Microsoft is intently poring over Google's portfolio of patents, hunting for potential vulnerabilities.

Surely they will find something. The only way to win a patent war would be to get IBM on your side.

Today, nearly everyone in Silicon Valley ... has begun to ask: Will Google become the next Netscape?

Google should certainly be less naive than Netscape, but that's certainly no immunity. Innovation will be the key factor.

Last year, Rick Rashid came to Silicon Valley to give a demonstration of an experimental Microsoft Research search engine. Shortly afterward, Mike Burrows, one of the original pioneers of Internet search at Digital Equipment who later helped design Microsoft's experimental search engine, quietly defected. He joined Google.

How much did he know? High-level defections could be a major strategic blow. Going forward, both firms will have to compartmentalize their work and confine the full Vision to the inner circle. This will slow them down, if nothing else.

Microsoft has already begun a recruitment campaign aimed at demoralizing Google employees. Microsoft recruiters have been calling Google employees at home, urging them to join Microsoft.

Microsoft the telemarketer ...

I'd be interested in hearing the pitch.