We've watched as Microsoft went from an innovative juggernaut to a second-rate company in just a few years. We know why: Microsoft just doesn't get it.

Remember a couple years back when Microsoft was going to revamp their MSN search engine to try to compete more effectively with Google? It didn't work. We know why. Microsoft doesn't get it. Take a look at www.msn.com . See it? Now look at www.google.com . Do you see advertisements all over Google's main search page? Do you see a jumbled mass of garbage on Google's main search page?

When people want to search the Web they don't want to send invites for Thanksgiving. They don't want to read about cat litter or why frozen vegetables might be more nutritious. They don't want to drive a Ford Escape. They want to search for something they're looking for. Period. You would think with all the money that Microsoft has, and the brilliant people they can afford to hire that at least one of these highly paid Mensa members would get it. Apparently, they don't.

The keep redesigning the MSN main search page as if they were entering a contest to see how much stuff they can jam on one page and still look like a professional Web designed create it. While Google's main search page could be made by most anyone with a WYSIWYG Web page editor, in about 10 minutes. People use Google, not because their page is so beautifully designed or because they tell you why frozen vegetables might be better for you than fresh ones - they use it because it gives them what they want: a page to begin their searches and a search engine that works.

Microsoft gives you a page loaded with ads and irrelevant information and search results that aren't nearly as good or as relevant as Google's. You would think with the resources available to Microsoft that would hire the best and the brightest. Apparently though, they all work for Google and Apple.

Speaking of Apple, they've been out maneuvering Microsoft for the past ten years. While Microsoft was working on Windows XP and later, Windows Vista, Apple was working Tiger, Leopard, iPods, iPhones, iBooks, and new Macs.

Let's take the iPod for example. The name iPod is as ubiquitous today as the name Band-Aid is. Remember when you were a kid and you fell down and scraped your knee; mom didn't put a "bandage" on it, she put a "Band-Aid" on it. The brands Coke and Pepsi are like that too. And iPod, in just a few short years has grown from an innovative product to a household name. Even old

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