New
#1
Honestly that is nothing more sensationalism. This is Google we are talking about.
And just because a company founder is involved in analyzing a competitor's technology does not mean they are panicking. Those guys are nerds in the first place and it is probably relaxing for them to learn and tweak and work on something new and to try and figure out how they can maximize their own products.
I do agree competition is great and Bing and Windows 7 and Microsoft's Maps are great examples of that. I think Bing is better than Google and I think so are the maps app as well compared to Google's offering.