Last month Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's notoriously bombastic CEO, set bloggers blabbing again when he went on an anti-Google tirade that was shrill even for him. In a speech at Stanford's business school, he derided many of Google's forays beyond search and advertising as "cute" stunts produced by a "random collection of people doing their own thing." He also blurted out to the audience that Google was "insane" for trying to grow its headcount so fast. Google's employee base - nearly 11,000 at the end of 2006 - has grown by 250% over the past two years and has nearly quadrupled since Google went public in the spring of 2004. The company can't lease new buildings, much less parking lots, fast enough to accommodate everyone.

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