Microsoft â??freezingâ?? R&D budget

Microsoft will freeze its research and development budget as the global software giant gathers its resources for a lengthy search engine war with Google.

The firm, which recently struck a deal with Yahoo in a joint effort to triumph over Google’s search-engine empire, will hold its R&D budget at $9.5 billion.

The freeze on R&D will have complex outcomes that will be hard to pinpoint on each specific company division.

However, the current company culture of reserving funds for a fight with Google could very well have implications on Microsoft’s videogame division.

"Let’s make sure we keep the money we need to continue to establish us in new businesses," said company CEO Steve Ballmer. "We’re trying to give Google a little competition in the search business."

Meanwhile, Ballmer had doubted that the tech sector would be a frontrunner in the recovery from the global recession.

“Things have come down, I see them staying down and slowly growing," he said during a Q&A session after a lecture to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

Humbly, when approached on the question of recession recovery, Ballmer said,

"I feel wholly unqualified to answer the question."