Microsoft's chief executive officer, Steve Ballmer, defending company spending plans that have triggered a 12 percent stock price drop since last Thursday, wrote to employees in an e-mail: "Throughout our history, Microsoft has won by making big, bold bets."

"I believe that now is not the time to scale back the scope of our ambition or the scale of our investment," Ballmer wrote. "While our opportunities are greater than ever, we also face new competitors, faster-moving markets and new customer demands."

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran excerpts on of the e-mail on its Web site.

Core in his appeal that spending was on target, Ballmer said Google was the reason behind some of the spending, taking aim at Google's revolutionary AdSense. "Further development of [our response] adCenter is key -- our goal is to create the Web's largest advertising network, giving us an engine that will enable us to monetize our services and compete against Google."

Where's the big, bold bet? Google is betting on its talent pool, and backing it with generous time to innovate. Question is, when will Microsoft stop chasing Google and start innovating? (See PC World's Full Disclosure: Microsoft Innovation--An Oxymoron). Let's hope after it catches up...

Originally by Mike Barton at InfoWorld TechWatch, 10:58 AM

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