Microsoft and Google: Partners or Rivals?

Microsoft — desperate to capture a slice of the popular and ad-generating search business — approached Google within the last two months to discuss options, including the possibility of a takeover. Nothing much came out of that overture, but Microsoft may consider it again in the future. Dan Gillmor suspects Google stopped this talk for the obvious reason: a Google that was part of Microsoft would forfeit the search and advertising company’s most vital asset — the relatively high level of trust it’s earned with the Internet community