Microsoft vs. Google : fair competition?

Here is a quote picked up in this thread on Slashdot:

Google searching “microsoft”: 39,500,000 results
Google searching “google”: 52,800,000 results
MSN searching “microsoft”: 80,139,835 results
MSN searching “google”: 648 results

I ran the test myself and got slightly different numbers. Here they are:

• “microsoft” via Google – 534,000,000 results
• “google” via Google – 782,000,000 results
• “microsoft” via MSN – 80,461,360 results
• “google” via MSN – 751 results

These results suggest two conclusions:

1. MSN search results are tainted, and thus are less useful.
2. Google indexes an order of magnitude more pages, and thus is more useful.