The fight has started. There are reports that Microsoft is in talks with NewCorp to ban Google from indexing WSJ’s content but Google isn’t flinching. In fact, Google’s standing their ground saying they don’t need content from WSJ to survive. Ha! Wait until other news sites — and later, blogs and other content providers — start blocking them in exchange for a slice of their billions of cash reserve.
This could be good news for Microsoft if they spin it right. Having searchable content from WSJ and, I expect in the future, other news sites like BBC, LA Times, NY Times could evolve it into a powerful content search engine. Nowadays, it’s easy for anyone to start a blog (like this one) and write about anything without credentials and consequences, but if Bing can search through trustworthy news sites, it can leverage that position as a-go-to news source. Sort of like a Wikipedia for news.
See my earlier post: Having Google Pay for Your Content
Yes, I know my Paintbrush skills are a big fat FAIL 