In the red corner, fighting out of Redmond, Washington, with $86 billion

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, February 2, 2011

In the red corner, fighting out of Redmond, Washington, with $86 billion in assets and 89,000 slave-driven employees . . .it’s Microsoft! And in the blue corner, from Mountain View, California, commanding $46 billion in assets and helping 65 percent of the country find its porn . . . Google! Lllllllleeeettt’s get ready Twumble!The fight started yesterday shortly after Google accused Microsoft of stealing its search results for use on Bing.com. After initially brushing off the finger-pointing, Microsoft published a blog entry defending its search engine and denying stealing anything.Then it went to the Twitter mats, and things started to get nasty.Microsoft’s Frank X. Shaw Tweeted:

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1. Don’t be fooled. Google wants to change subject because they’re under investigation in the US and Europe for manipulating search results.less than a minute ago via Seesmic DesktopFrank X. Shawfxshaw

And:

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2. Google collects customer data from Chrome and Android. Pot calling kettle black? http://bit.ly/eLQV70less than a minute ago via Seesmic DesktopFrank X. Shawfxshaw

Now it’s Google’s Matt Cutts’ turn. He Twote:

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So far Bing’s response seems to be “We don’t copy Google’s results. Of course we do.” http://goo.gl/8VoDJ vs. http://goo.gl/yW4Ialess than a minute ago via webMatt Cuttsmattcutts

And:

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@jeremywright @brianlayman except that we created those arbitrary synthetic results, and they later appeared on Bing. Timeline is clear.less than a minute ago via webMatt Cuttsmattcutts

Oh, snap!Soon other techies weighed in, like New York programmer and RSS inventor Dave Winer. He posted a link to an earlier story:

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Oooops looks like Google caught Microsoft cheating in search. http://r2.ly/853kless than a minute ago via webDave Winerdavewiner

Shaw no likey:

.bbpBox32576970113941504 {background:url(http://a3.twimg.com/a/1296081712/images/themes/theme1/bg.png) #C0DEED;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}

@davewiner no they didn’t.less than a minute ago via Seesmic DesktopFrank X. Shawfxshaw

Dave doubles down:

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@fxshaw The evidence is pretty convincingless than a minute ago via webDave Winerdavewiner

Fuck you, Dave!

.bbpBox32577796211482624 {background:url(http://a3.twimg.com/a/1296585550/images/themes/theme1/bg.png) #C0DEED;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}

@davewiner Google had employees log onto ms customer feedback system and send results to Microsoft.less than a minute ago via Seesmic DesktopFrank X. Shawfxshaw

No, fuck YOU, Frank!

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@fxshaw @davewiner normal people call that “IE8”.less than a minute ago via webMatt Cuttsmattcutts

And one other thing, Matt:

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@mattcutts hey if this whole engineering thing doesn’t work out for you, try PR — you’ve got the chops for it. ;)less than a minute ago via Seesmic DesktopFrank X. Shawfxshaw

Other Microsofties like Scott Massey got involved:

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Google’s Childish Response To Microsoft Using Google To Increase Bing Relevance http://t.co/GwaJodz via @Techdirtless than a minute ago via Tweet Buttonscottmasseyscottmassey

As did Google’s main account:

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Microsoft’s Bing uses Google search results–and denies it http://goo.gl/HSdvZless than a minute ago via webA Googlergoogle

We could go on like this for a while, but you get the idea.Hopefully, the next stop after Twitter will be a proper cage match, Schmidt vs. Ballmer, no holds barred. My money’s on Ballmer. That dude’s a beast.