Mon Dieu! Microsoft snubbed in France

How bad is Microsoft's standing in the world of Internet search engines?

Bad enough that MSN Search wasn't even mentioned by the French president when he listed the "American giants" competing with France's tech industry.

"We must meet the global challenge of the American giants Google and Yahoo!," Jacques Chirac said, according to The Associated Press. "Today the new geography of knowledge and cultures is being drawn. Tomorrow, that which is not available online runs the risk of being invisible to the world," the French president said.

Chirac then discussed a European response to Google — — a multimedia search engine called Quaero being developed by a European consortium including French electronics company Thomson, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom. Some suggested the Quaero-Google rivalry could emerge as the online equivalent of the Airbus-Boeing competition. But that marginalizes Microsoft's search efforts even further.

The bad news for Google is that its cafeteria will have to start serving Freedom Fries.

Quelle horreur!

What the French should worry about is America's lead in online gastronomy.

Seattle-based Allrecipes.com reported last week that holiday cooks drove its site traffic to a record 9.1 million visitors last month. That put Allrecipes.com in second place among recipe sites, trailing only Foodnetwork.com, the company said.

What, no bubble?

Nobody wants to be accused of irrational exuberance, especially not Goldman Sachs.

Information-technology spending in 2006 should be "as good or slightly better than 2005," the investment banker said last week. Goldman's top growth picks: eBay, Google, Marvell, Qualcomm and Satyam.

Microsoft is a "top value" pick.

Get mappy

With Google Earth on the rise, Microsoft is trying to remind people that it has been providing free online geographic images for years.

Microsoft Research boss Rick Rashid made the point last week as he demonstrated an Indian map project at his operation's new Bangalore lab.

"Microsoft Research is a pioneer in the area of digital maps," Rashid said. "Its TerraServer system has provided millions of users with online access to geographically indexed map and image data since 1998."

Maybe he should rename it La TerreServer and form a partnership with Quaero.

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