When I Left You I Was but the Learner…

Following the Google Q1 earnings release, I saw this article quoting Google CEO Eric Schmidt on working now with Yahoo! in paid search (in its effort to resist the Microsoft bid):

Schimdt had nothing but kind words to say about Yahoo — Google’s erstwhile rival recently turned potential business partner — during a conference call with investors following the company’s first-quarter results.

“It’s nice working with Yahoo and we like them very much,” Schmidt said of Google’s feelings towards its crosstown rival.

Yahoo!’s adoption of Google (booting Inktomi in 2000, which it later bought) was instrumental in Google’s rise to its current dominant position in search.

So when I read the article above, I couldn’t help thinking of the iconic (if awkward) line in the original Star Wars where Darth Vader prepares to fight his old mentor Obi-Wan: “When I left you I was but the learner, now I am the master…”