Microsoft has just reported their 4th quarter results which have seen annual revenue up 15% and exceeding $50 billion for the first time. Microsoft's core business sectors are performing well, with sales of the new Windows Vista operating system are on target and corporate technology sales are strong.

However, within the Internet-related sector, Microsoft's quarterly results show a more gloomy picture, with a $239 million loss posted in the last quarter, due to the company hiring more employees and building data centers to compete with Google and Yahoo. Yet Microsoft's new AdCenter PPC tool helped to post a 33% increase in online advertising sales.

They still have a long way to go against their arch-rivals though. Microsoft's quarterly advertising revenue of $544 million was overshadowed by Google, which posted more than $3.8 billion in advertising revenue as part of its quarterly results, also published last week!