Because the Microsoft Way is to give top priority to holding on to the high-leverage point in a market, and to do the lowest-quality engineering they can get aw

Because the Microsoft Way is to give top priority to holding on to the high-leverage point in a market, and to do the lowest-quality engineering they can get away with to hold onto it. Their internal culture favors mediocre work as long as it's done fast and the testers don't find too many bugs. Search is now one of the highest-leverage points in the world economy, and it will become more important as time goes on. Microsoft having their claws a little deeper into search means they will use that position not so much to give people everywhere access to information, but mostly to help other Microsoft ventures grab and hold market share against competitors.