PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp., the world's No. 1 software maker, Wednesday said it is taking aim at privately held Google Inc., the Web-search company that's so popular its name is used as a verb.

"We do view Google more and more as a competitor. We believe that we can provide consumers with a better product and a better user experience. That's something that we're actively looking at doing," Bob Visse, director of marketing for Microsoft's MSN Internet services division, said.

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Visse said the company was making some significant investments in developing a better search engine. But the company has not offered specific plans.

Microsoft (MS: Research, Estimates) would not be the first Web portal provider to step into the Web search segment. Last month, Internet media company Yahoo! Inc (YHOO: Research, Estimates). closed its $235 million purchase of Internet-search company Inktomi Corp.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has said its been searching for ways to capitalize on its various technologies, for example data retrieval and analysis, by entering new markets. It has also targeted security software.

Google, the No. 1 Web-search provider, has become so pervasive that it is not uncommon for people to refer to searching the Internet as "googling."

A Google representative could not be immediately reached for comment.

Google has been seen as a top IPO candidate despite a lagging economy, but a company co-founder recently told attendees at a high-tech conference that going public is not on the front burner for the Mountain View, Calif.-based company.