The latest Microsoft-related news has been more about Seinfeld, Vista, and Windows 7 than anything else. Steve Ballmer recently made some public comments on another subject, though, and it turns out that the CEO remains as committed as ever to competing with Google in search.
Stockholders just shouldn't feel they've been promised an immediate turnaround. "It's a five-year task. It's a long-term task," Ballmer said, according to
"The sweet spot for us is under a billion more than over a billion," he continued. "That's not actually a financial statement. But companies under a billion are basically usually technology and people. Once you get to a billion, you're buying customer-based and sales force and brand and all of the rest. We tend to like and do better with the former than the latter." Successful or not, then, it looks like Microsoft's five-year quest will keep the smaller end of the search market an interesting place.
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