• Bloomberg News, Friday, March 20, 2009 11:45 AM

Microsoft has one advantage over Google in the search market, according to CEO Steve Ballmer. He says his company can experiment, while Google, the market leader, is forced to play it safe. "Google does have to be all things to all people," Ballmer told Bloomberg. "Our search does not need to be all things to all people."

Ballmer noted that the challenge facing the search giant is similar to the challenge Microsoft faces with its Windows operating system, which needs to appeal to many different types of customers. As such, Ballmer says Google would be tentative about changing a formula that works for them, while Microsoft is more willing to experiment with a new look or business model. Of course, that doesn't mean that Ballmer wouldn't rather be in Google's position. According to comScore, Google had a 63% share of the search market in February, compared to Microsoft's 8% share. "Eight doesn't have to go to 60," Ballmer said. "Eight to 60 -- whew that's hard...Eight has got to go to 10. It's got to go to 12, got to go to 15, 18, 20."

"The premise of Ballmer's argument is that there is still time," said Rob Helm, vice president of research at Directions on Microsoft. "People have been doing advertising on the Web for a while now, and Microsoft has missed some of the major innovations. It's not clear to me that there's that much running room left for Microsoft."

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