Along with PageRank, one of the most innovative things Google did was keep its user interface simple and streamlined. Today Microsoft is pulling a classic "Microsoft move", as it tries to catch up in the search engine market. Check out this new stripped down MSN search page, and tell me that it doesn't remind you of Google's interface.
When a competitor gets ahead of Microsoft the company will first try and catch up to the firm by imitating the firm's products and features. Then if possible, they will tie the product back to existing products like Windows and Office to leverage their market power. As they start to gain market share they will increase the rate at which they innovate, pushing hard to get to a tipping point, where the market will tip in their favor. When they reach the tipping point (typically some point around 30% market share) the company will pull back resources and redeploy into other markets and the rate of innovation on the product will slow dramatically until they are tested again.
Microsoft is clearly following this strategy in search. Today they are in the "imitation" phase, with the launch of Longhorn they will be in the "tie in" phase. This strategy is so easy to follow that Google and Yahoo know it is coming. I only hope that they fight it off better than the firms in other markets.
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