Google's China problem leaves opening for Bing

Earlier this month, Google unleashed one of the year's biggest technology stories by announcing it was no longer interested in working with the Chinese government to censor search results, and by threatening to cease operations in the communist country. Microsoft, for its part, remained quiet for as long as it could, and then eventually announced it would continue operations in China, business as usual.

This week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer emphasized this again in a post on The Microsoft Blog. "We have done business in China for more than 20 years and we intend to stay engaged, which means our business must respect the laws of China. That's true for every company doing business in countries around the world: we are all subject to local laws." We're not surprised; after all, if one of your biggest competitors has decided to leave a market because it believes it was victimized and you were not (Microsoft maintains its systems were not compromised in the Chinese attacks on the 30 or so US companies), then you would also do your best to take advantage of the surprise that has just landed in your lap.

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