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"In six months' time we'll be more relevant in the U.S. market place than Google."

No, it's not Yahoo's Susan Decker doing a strong backpedal. It's Microsoft's European president, probably giving his American authorities heart attacks as he lets the press spin this not as a statement about search capability, but as a basic competitive challenge to Google.

And thus begins the fun of watching the challenger squirm.

Microsoft says better than Google soon [Yahoo News. Ironic, yes.]