There are those who claim that Microsoft has been too slow to bring innovative products to market --- and now an ex-VP joins the chorus, delivering a devastating critique. It makes for eye-opening reading.

Much has been made of the ongoing battle between Google and the Chinese government, but Google faces a far bigger governmental challenge with more serious revenue and business implications: The ongoing fights over privacy and search engine monopoly throughout Europe. Google's ultimate success may be decided in cities such as Brussels, Rome, and Berlin, not Beijing.

The most recent figures show that Internet Explorer continues its long, steady decline in market share, with no end in sight. But it need not be that way. Here are five ways Microsoft can save Internet Explorer and gain back market share.

Microsoft and Google agree on very little, but they agree on at least one thing: It's time for Internet Explorer 6 to go. Google has announced that it will drop support of IE 6 for Google Docs on March 1. More surprisingly, it will also drop support for Chrome 3.

Apple may have grabbed the headlines over the last few days with its iPad announcement, but the real news in the tech world is that thanks to Windows 7 sales, Microsoft had a blowout quarter, increasing revenue by 14% compared to a year ago. The company is clearly hoping that the dark days of Vista are behind it.

In launching the iPad yesterday, Steve Jobs criticized netbooks, calling them little more than "cheap laptops" and adding, "The problem is that netbooks aren't better than anything." But when it comes to overall sales, they'll clearly be better than at least one thing --- the iPad. Netbook sales will continue to soar, dwarfing sales of the iPad.

Microsoft can be forgiven if it's looking at Apple's iPad announcement today with more than a little envy. Microsoft has been pushing tablet technology for at least a decade, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars in development costs to no avail. And now Apple has stolen its thunder with a flashier, more exciting, and less expensive product.

Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates today told ABC's Good Morning America that Chinese censorship is "very limited" and "easy to go around." He appeared to take a veiled swipe at Google as well. Gates may be the world's greatest philanthropist, but when it comes to China, he's simply wrong.

The just-released Firefox 3.6 is a perfectly fine browser, boosting speed a reasonable amount over previous versions, improving security, and adding a useful feature or two. But use it a little while, and you'll soon ask yourself: Is that all there is? And is the problem not with Firefox, but that browsers themselves have gotten old and tired?

Looking to upgrade to Firefox 3.6? On Windows and the Mac, you don't need to do much more than download a file, perform a few clicks, and you're done. But for the moment, if you want to upgrade it on Linux, you'll be in a world of pain unless you're a very experienced Linux user. It's one more piece of evidence that Linux needs plenty of help if it wants to crack the mass market.

If you have any doubt that we're living in an alternate universe, here are two pieces of evidence for you: Massachusetts has a Republican Senator, and Microsoft and Apple are in talks to form a strategic partnership to make Bing the default search engine for the iPhone.

Microsoft just announced a new policy regarding the privacy of Bing searches, and it's superior to how Google handles privacy. Microsoft is clearly taking dead aim at Google's Achilles heel --- fears that Google collects so much information that it will become the tech version of Big Brother.

Worried about the security hole in Internet Explorer that was used to launch attacks by China against Google and others? There are ways to help close it and limit your exposure to similar threats --- and it won't take more than a few minutes. Here's how to do it.

Apple has worked for years to build a company image as freedom-loving and iconoclastic. But the truth is far darker: Apple is cooperating with the Chinese government to ban iPhone applications in China related to the Dalai Lama and Uighur activist Rebiya Kandeer, even though it once highlighted the Dalai Lama in its "Think Different" campaign. One word describes Apple's behavior: hypocritical.

Microsoft has yet to say whether it will follow Google in standing up to Chinese censorship, but a former top Microsoft executive played a key role in Google's Chinese business --- and his unexpectedly quitting Google last year may have signaled the impending cyberwar between Google and the Chinese government.