In case you were wondering, Microsoft doesn't plan to let the whole Google-China brouhaha affect its business strategy.  Steve Ballmer recently indicated that his company will more or less stay the course and throw Bing into the regional mix.

Part of the reason behind this decision might be that Microsoft hasn't bought into the theory that China's government participated in the hack that upset Google.  Or that it just felt unthreatened by it.

Ballmer told Reuters, "We're attacked every day from all parts of the world and I think everybody else is too.  We didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

But whether Microsoft's good at defending itself or simply dense, there's little question that it's sticking around in China.  In response to a question about leaving the country, Ballmer didn't give a "maybe" or a "we'll see."  He said, "No."  The CEO then continued, "I don't understand how that helps anything.  I don't understand how that helps us and I don't understand how that helps China."

Look for Bing to come out of beta and see a wide release in China in the near-ish future, then.

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