Another troubling sign: Google stock has plummeted. Back in November, it was at US$744. Today, as I write this, it's at US$546 --- a precipitous drop. The entire stock market has gone down, you say? So what? In the past, Google has defied market gravity. If it's now tied to the movement of the market itself, its salad days are gone.

The New York Times article concluded that the daycare debacle is a microcosm of what's happening at Google in general. I think its conclusion sums up the problem best:

Google has shown that it thinks about day care the same way every other company does - as a luxury, not a benefit. Judging by what's transpired, that's what Google is fast becoming: just another company.

So why is all this good for Microsoft? First off, there's a chance it can pick up talent from Google, as the defection of Sergey Solyanik has shown. Beyond that, though, if Google's best days are gone, it gives Microsoft more time to figure out how to finally take advantage of the Internet, something it has yet to figure out.