I think Damien Ivereigh said it best:
Murdoch wants to be indexed by Google (if he didn't he could just use a robots.txt file). He just wants Google to pay for it – which it won't. This is a classic game of 'chicken'.
Murdoch has started publically complaining about Google in the hope of finding a government that would change the rules so that Google will be forced to pay, or at least give publishers some other way to make money out of the uncontrolled free-for-all that is the internet.
Trouble is, now Microsoft has called his bluff by saying it will give Murdoch money if it de-indexes from Google and migrates over to Bing.
At best (for Murdoch), this is just an escalation in the game of chicken with Google. At worst, people will turn around to Murdoch and ask: "Well you say you need search engines to pay, but you had the offer from Microsoft, why didn't you take it?"
Murdoch is no dinosaur struggling to figure out how to sit in the new internet age. He is a very cunning businessman who has figured out that he can't win this battle using capitalism and the markets alone.
Orig: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Conversations/Rup...