NP: John Cage, 4'33"

I'm not saying I don't believe him, but if you had just released a new search engine, wouldn't you be obligated to say you think online advertising will bounce back?

(And trust me, I'm trying to will positive online advertising growth into existence as well, since it would directly affect my job prospects. So I say this from experience.)

Snarkiness aside, Howe's points about a down economy spurring innovation, along with the traditionally stronger back-to-school and holiday seasons are entirely valid. Q1 was always going to suck, and if it sucked more than some people expected, it's actually because holiday spending was too important to cut back at the end of last year, which might have given a false sense of security. What happens this year when the economy actually figures more prominently into budgeting is another matter altogether, and I don't know if there will be any strong indicators before back-to-school season starts. Low Q2 spending could be a false positive, as it could indicate that advertisers are saving their money for when it counts. If Q2 spending is strong, though, things are probably rebounding, but that seems an unlikely result.

And I totally give Howe credit for knocking down the "how to beat Google" mentality I mentioned previously, when it comes to defining Bing's success:

Mr. Battelle said Microsoft currently had an 8% share of the search market and asked Mr. Howe what number he’d like to see. Mr. Howe declined to name it, saying “When we get to nine, we’re not going to be happy till we get to 10.”

That's a pretty shrewd answer.