Microsoft Picks Shanghai for $20 million R & D Center

Microsoft bought a 90,000 square meter site in the industry zone of Shanghai…home to Intel and Wicresoft, a joint venture between Microsoft and the Shanghai government.

Microsoft plans to use the research and development center to develop software and other technical support to tap into the 15 million registered MSN users.

Microsoft lost a bus load of users when MSN services were unavailable for a week after the earthquakes off Taiwan.

Many Chinese switched to QQ then. QQ now has 84% of the market compared to Microsoft's 14%.

And…Microsoft…figured it was time to follow Yahoo!, eBay, and Google's lead to set up shop on the mainland.

It seems to be Microsoft's pattern…wait and find out what others do…and then come in with a lot of money and try and do it better.

What do you think?