Google risks losing its bragging rights as the top search engine should negotiations between Microsoft and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation yield positive results.

According to news reports circulating the globe, talks between the two camps reveals the software giant’s propensity to undermine Google’s operations has accelerated and a deal helping News Corp remove its sites from the search engine’s listings will add further fuel to the fire.

However the plot thickens with Google’s release of its operating system, Chromium, which negates the need for consumers to use Microsoft operating system software to access the internet and encourage the use of cloud computing.

Microsoft’s own search engine, Bing, put together in partnership with Google’s rival Yahoo!, stands to benefit greatly should Murdoch’s plans for paid content become the norm within the industry.

Also likely to benefit are newspaper publishers around the world seeking to create a viable business model by receiving income from having their content online.

While Google has maintained that Murdoch is free to remove whatever links he wants, it is yet to comment on whether it will support paid content.