There was a time when Microsoft was spoken of like the Colosseum in Rome: Huge, stable, somehow existing outside of time and reality. We all had and loved Windows ('cause Macs sucked back then anyway) and we all used Internet Explorer, the browser that destroyed Netscape Navigator, its seemingly insurmountable predecessor.

But that was then. This is 2009. Apple has doubled their market share. Internet Explorer is steadily losing market share to multiple competitors. And Windows fans have had to spend more time defending than enjoying Vista. Last, but not least, Microsoft's multiple attempts to unseat Google as king of search have failed, each in its own spectacular way.

Is the empire crumbling? Microsoft would have you think not. This week, they released their newest search product: Bing. As in, "just 'bing' it." Early reviews have been both positive and negative, which is somewhat expected as they make some last-minute tweaks. But the price of beating Google, the indisputable leader in internet search, is a hefty price indeed. Microsoft's marketing budget for the campaign introducing Bing is estimated at $80 to $100 million. In addition to traditional media, Microsoft is paying to place Bing in a handful of prime time TV shows, hoping if you see Jack Bauer Bing something, you might want to Bing, too. And it still may not work.

How often in history has the underdog, even a superior underdog, not been able to come from behind only because of the head start the leader has? The pricing of taking on Google is a hundred million dollars, and even when you've got the financial and technological resources of Microsoft, there's no guarantee your efforts will pay off.

So the moral is: don't let your brand fall behind in a category you want to be a major player in — not even for a moment, because it will cost you much more to regain that market share later on than it would to simply hang onto it. For example: have you tried Bing yet?