• BusinessWeek, Friday, November 24, 2006 10:45 AM

Microsoft is finding itself to be an underdog these days in many ways. Its MSN Web portal is second to Yahoo, its search engine is third behind Google and Yahoo, and its new music player--well, nobody's giving it much of a chance against Apple's iPod.

Nevertheless, determined Microsoft execs want to see the company stage its first come-from-behind victory since the software giant toppled Netscape with Internet Explorer in the early 2000s. BusinessWeek tells the tale of J Allard, the man responsible for bringing the Zune media player to market in less than 8 months.

You might think that given the quick turnaround and relatively light allocation of human resources (compared with the five-year, 10,000-plus worker process of bringing Vista to the fore), Microsoft isn't seriously betting on besting Steve Jobs and co. at what has become their game, but this guy Allard is serious. On Oct. 19, a month before the Zune's release, Allard sent an email to his 230 workers containing an old quotation from Jobs: "The only problem with Microsoft is that they have no taste." Said Allard: "I for one...want to see this guy eat his words." "Those are fighting words. He is speaking to every one of us and saying that we don't get it."

Even if the Zune doesn't topple the iPod (as most expect), it's important that the software giant keep reasserting itself in areas other than, well, software. The Redmond, Wash. giant is undergoing the biggest business shift in its 30-year history, as open source technology and ad-supported Web services take hold of the Internet.

Read the whole story at BusinessWeek »