Well they say absolute power corrupts. On the other hand the two companies are quite different. The corporate ethos and the attitude towards creativity are almost complete opposites.  For example, I never heard any Google execs reported as using expressions such a "embrace, extend and extinguish"...

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
  Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish

And I think or at least I hope that the days of any one company dominating the industry are slowly but surely drawing to a close. The rise of Google together with astonishing developments within the open source community are a major factors in this. Of course, Google makes much use of open source - so who knows what effect that might have?

Lets's ignore the very real Google threat to Micro$haft for a moment. If my experiences comparing the slug-like performance of Vista to the speed and agility of Ubuntu are any indication of the future then I believe that Micro$haft's days as top dog really are numbered. Under attack from all sides, Micro$haft products will gradually become perceived as uncompetitive, insecure, under-performing or just plain obsolete. Indeed, some observers suggest this fall from favour is already happening.

We live in interesting times.