John Battelle: "...the fact that Microsoft came late to the search game just might be an advantage."
Of course it is! Coming late to the game is almost always an advantage, especially if you have money and distribution. You can see what's working (and not) for the other guys. And you can move faster, because you don't have big investments in doing things a particular way, or major user/customer bases to support and guide through changes. First move advantage is usually bullshit.