[webgenius]

SEATTLE (Reuters) - The success of Google Inc. served as a "wake-up call" for Microsoft Corp. to the financial power of Web advertising, Microsoft's chief technologist said on Tuesday.


Google's success forced the company to consider advertising as a new revenue stream beyond its traditional licensing and subscription model, Microsoft's Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference in Las Vegas.


"Google's success very clearly caused an inflection point within the industry and within Microsoft," Ozzie said in a question-and-answer session monitored online.

Source: http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...IE.xml&src=rss