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Reminded me of this story about Gates petals around the rose, though of-course in this case it's more like 'evolutionary gene stealing'.

Bing is getting there, right, does it matter how it's getting there? So it's copying the results - evolution is about copying the results from more successful beans, so with this move MS is admitting that Google is more successful.

This is in no way related to TFA, but the mention of old school Bill Gates reminded me of an article someone recently pointed me to. It's about Bill playing a game called "Petals Around the Rose" in 1977. While the game itself is pretty interesting, the story about how Bill approaches the problem says a whole lot about how Microsoft operated in the early days. Notably that he could completely miss the point of something, but he'd get close enough by bruteforcing things. It's an interesting parallel to how Microsoft has always mimics its competitors, and why their imitations don't always hit the mark.

OP was intentionally ambiguous. The geeky-kinky action is completely up to the reader.
It could mean dressing as Winnie the Pooh characters for a game of Petals Around the Rose, for example.
SecDef Gates, of course, would follow a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, in any case.

Really? A little bit of Googling and it doesn't seem that cheap.

Very good. Except now you've spoiled it for everyone else. If you had posted the Petals Around the Rose solution, quite a few people would be screaming for your head. ;-)

All kidding aside. Parent post actually highlights characteristics of many successful executives. Check out the following article: Is Your Boss a Psychopath?.

Here's an interesting snippet:

I hope such business practices find themselves increasingly marginalized over the next few decades, because it bloody stinks. Yeah, well Steve Jobs may have a compelling vision, but I wonder how many people who have worked with him actually enjoyed the journey? I really hope Google is different, and even if they may not succeed in the end - hard to be the first of your kind - may be a new breed of companies not governed by sociopaths, can show us a better way forward.

I'm heading a little off topic, but I do find what makes a person tick interesting. Here's another account that reveals a little bit more about the richest man in the world (especially if it's true): Bill Gates and Petals Around the Rose.

Is it cheating to just read the JavaScript at http://www.borrett.id.au/computing/petals-j.htm where you can play the game? I'm not saying its right, becuase I didn't know what the answer should be, so beware.

Bill Gates is said to have solved the problem by memorizing the combinations first, the brute force approach.

It ones of those that requires a knack for seeing the simple things

Because the ability to use a CLI demonstrates a true understanding of what's happening on the computer.

No, using the switches on the front to input the bootstrap code in binary demonstrates a true understanding of what's happening on the computer.

Or, put another way: my clumsy and awkward user interface is geekier than yours :-)

Bill looks at the organist, rockin' some (Janice|Scott) Joplin, and says of the flowers on the instrument: "You know what's better than those tulips on the organ?"
They look at him almost as blankly as the reader does this post.
"Petals About the Rose."