Fortune's Bing vs. Microsoft's Bing

Fortune magazine columnist Stanley Bing — a pseudonym — is one of the best business writers today at using humor and sacrasm to make his point. His column has the coveted back page spot in each issue.

Software giant Microsoft Corp. announced this week a search engine called Bing that it will compete with Google.

That’s got Bing — the columnist, not the search engine — hopping mad. He released a statement on his blog. It reads, in part:

“Stanley Bing, FORTUNE Magazine columnist and best-selling author, today expressed ‘moderate outrage’ at the branding of the new search engine to be offered by Microsoft, also to be called Bing. At the same time, Bing the Author took the unusual step of offering an initial olive branch to Bing the Search Engine, proposing that the two powerful brands merge into one for which Mr. Bing could be the logo, corporate symbol and spokesman, to the extent that it fits in with his other duties.Â

“‘This is an unprecedented case of brand intrusion by one of the most powerful and wealthy corporations in the world,’ said Bing the Author, as opposed to Bing the Search Engine, which, unlike Mr. Bing himself, cannot be called for comment because it is not a person. ‘At the same time, I believe I can propose a solution to this problem that with work to the benefit of both Bings, me and the other one,’ he added.”

Read more here.