Microsoft just may have something. They're talking about paying some major news and information producers to remove their pages from Google search results. By doing this, they force users to use Bing to find those pages, and since those pages are often of value, smart users will start doing double searches, both Bing and Google.

Google has long provided page owners the right to remove themselves from search results, knowing that almost nobody will, since doing so results in your site getting no traffic. Now, by throwing cash on the table, Microsoft gives people a motive.

This could change the net drastically. If this strategy works for Microsoft, there's no reason it'll stop with News Corp. Anyone who produces useful content may find the search engines offering them a bit of cash for exclusivity. It could affect everything from blogs to technical information sites, in addition to news sites.

Google will likely withdraw its option to delist in order to protect its dominant position, but that will surely result in copyright lawsuits that Google will defend citing the fair use exemption. The results of those suits could vary by country, making a big mess of the relatively clean Internet world we have right now.

I think it's great. Things are too stable. We could use a shakeup.