That simply isn't the case. IE is free of charge, VS is free of charge (for all intents and purposes), UI does not have to be the prettiest to be effective. There is a pattern in leading and following. MSFT reacts to the little things like browsers and refactoring because there aren't billions to be made from it. As an investor I applaud those sound business practices. Even Search, while intesting from Ad Revenue perspective is only interesting; the stickiness is what sells Ads....not the technology. Look at XBOX and Zune. Combined I doubt those two brands are going to make enough to justify themselves. But five years from now the convergence (yea, that's an overused term) of these brands will surprise many people and MSFT will be viewed as an innovator. I fully anticipate that the next computing revolution will happen because of two companies: MSFT and IBM. Everyone else will be playing catch up....including Google.