Microsoft has set up research centres in Britain, France, and Germany to improve its internet search technology. 

Chief executive Steve Ballmer said at a news conference that the three "centres of excellence" - in Paris, London, and Munich - would employ several hundred people.

He said the move was a vote of confidence in the European economy, and that the centres would be looking to close the gap with Google by coming up with good experimental technology. While refusing to say how much Microsoft was spending on the centres, Ballmer said that he was making a major financial commitment at a time when many companies were nervous about spending.

Microsoft has been pushing to improve its ability to run Internet searches and to attract the advertising revenue that comes with them, after its failed bid to acquire Yahoo. Redmond has just one per cent of the European search market, according to Comscore, and in some countries it even trails local search engines. X

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