zRonin - 2:35 am on Oct 29, 2005 (gmt 0)

To build a great search engine you need great innovators. Microsoft has never been an innovator.

What are you talking about? First of all, "never been an innovator," of course they have. They introduce new technology all the time. A lot of their products are copycats, but they are still innovative because they improve the ones they didn't create.

They're more interested in their balance sheet than their software.

Like every company, they are most worried about making money, but that doesnt mean they don't worry about their software. Good software = users = money. Therefore, they care about their software because it earns money.

it's search results are among the worst in the industry

I will agree that they are usually worse than Google in some areas (but not in all), however, what other search engine is better?