It has come to something when the world's most profitable technology company chooses to depict itself as the proverbial seven-stone weakling.

Yet that is precisely the pose that Microsoft struck this week when it announced a long-sought alliance with Yahoo in the online search business. The identity of the muscle-bound bully kicking sand in Microsoft's face? Google. No matter that the internet upstart will not even be a teenager for another couple of years: in the tech business, kids grow up fast.

A day later, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft chief executive, summed up his company's dilemma. “In this industry, probably the greatest source of economic value creation is choosing to be in the right businesses early enough,” he said. “And when you don't choose to be in early enough, you have a problem.”