If you've read anything about any of Microsoft's big internet-based application launches this year - think VoIP or mapping - you've probably seen a headline along the lines of 'Microsoft plays catch-up to Google'.

While the Redmond behemoth has been putting its footprints into a number of new online areas, it's been very much running behind the folk at the Googleplex. It's no wonder, then, that both of Microsoft's key players - Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer - have dropped out of the top 10 and Google's CEO has taken the top spot in this year's Agenda Setters poll.

According to our panellists it really hasn't been Microsoft's year. Aside from ongoing problems with buggy software, they said, the Redmond company is still failing to impress or address its issues with security, despite a push to sort out its woes with initiatives such as Trustworthy Computing.

Another threat to Microsoft is the ongoing antitrust wrangling. As proof, Neelie Kroes, competition commissioner at the EC and Microsoft's main foe in this area, squeaked onto the Agenda Setters at number 50 for the impact her work will have both on Microsoft and on the wider world of tech.

Should Kroes, and other antitrust regulators like her in Japan, Korea and the US, succeed, we could see an unbundling of Microsoft's software plans or even of the company itself. This would of course be a major change in the way Microsoft is run and a huge potential threat to the software behemoth's dominance on the desktop.

Any enforced software unbundling will hit Microsoft where it hurts, particularly if important apps such as Internet Explorer or Word end up divorced from the Windows OS itself. It certainly won't endear the company to the average Joe consumer and it can only create more bugs and interoperability worries for the company.

On the other hand, Google is seemingly going from strength to strength - inveigling its way into the desktop market with its desktop search product, and proving it's more than a one trick pony by going beyond search to branch out into VoIP, IM, mapping and the like.

Google still has a fan base among IT's early adopters that's as virulent as Microsoft's hate mob. A hard core of teens and techies tinkering in their bedrooms and labs might not sound like a huge threat to Redmond but, in mimicking the Apple faithful, Google's fan boys and girls are ensuring the wider public remain in a honeymoon phase with the search giant.

Google has also proved its mettle in the world of marketing, constantly getting plaudits for most recognised or most influential brand name. Like Hoover before it, the search firm has even made it into the English language - the verb 'to Google' is now just part of the vernacular.

Our panel even suggested - though speculatively - that upstarts such as Skype, or indeed Google, are well-placed to launch their own versions of key Microsoft products such as Word or Excel.

So, chilled Moet all round at Google and warm Shandy Bass in the staff room for Microsoft?

Not quite. Google, remember, is still the new kid on the block. There's no disputing it's the king of search but its other offerings have not had the shrink wrap off for long. While their novelty makes it hard to make a judgement on their future success, it's not been one long stream of praise. GoogleTalk, for example, was met with more of a 'hmmm' than a 'wow'.

Microsoft does have several things in its favour. It's a veteran and a money-making machine - like few others in the industry. CEO Ballmer won his place above chairman Gates in this year's Agenda Setters poll for his business-savvy and Microsoft's financial performance.

It's got a massive worldwide user base, healthy cash reserves, a pool of big-name partners and has even tipped its hat at proving value to stock market players by launching a cost-cutting drive and giving some of its reserves back to its shareholders.

Google, for its part, has plenty of competitors to contend with other than Microsoft. Like any company that comes up with a smart business idea or two and starts making cash, Google has seen countless companies line up to imitate its model and success - and then, they hope, snatch some market share.

The Google v Microsoft battle is essentially a fight between tech's grand old dame and a sexy new IT girl; Microsoft's undeniable standing pitched against Google's ceaseless innovation and ambition. It's clearly not a fight that will be easily - or unilaterally - won. Seconds out, round two...