And then we go back to an anonymous report about MSNBot on Scripting News in June 2003: "They made a build-vs-buy decision in the last few months (in fact they made an informal offer to purchase Google, which was refused)."

April 2003, John Markoff wrote another profile of Google. "Netscape antagonized Microsoft," Mr. Brin said. "We are not putting ourselves in the bull's-eye as Netscape did."
11:26:15 PM  

Dan Gillmor: "The Times did not leave any doubt in its report. This is a case where unnamed sources have been allowed to make flat assertions, which are then denied on the record by someone who should know."
10:57:52 PM  

From August 2003 on News.Com at the Search Engine Strategies conference:

"Is there any circumstance in which Google might buy Microsoft?" Sullivan said wryly, setting off laughter in the room. "Or the opposite?" Brin said: "There are a lot of liabilities in acquiring Microsoft." Brin acknowledged that many companies over the five-year history of Google have approached it with offers. And while the company has taken each one seriously, he said, Google holds a lot of promise and a buyout is not likely.

SearchEngineWatch's report on the Brin session.
4:13:17 PM  

News.Com: "Today, roughly 60 percent of Dell's corporate Latitude mobile computers are internally identical to its consumer-oriented Inspiron line, with only cosmetic differences. But next year, that overlap will be reduced "significantly," spokeswoman Anne Camden said at a media event Sunday at the Comdex trade show."
3:54:18 PM