But there it is, twelfth out of the top twenty. A little slip from 10th place last year, but not too bad now that the company’s iconic founder, Bill Gates, has left corporate life behind for philanthropic pursuits.

Out of the eight key snapshots Fortune takes in its survey, Microsoft’s best attribute comes as little surprise. A cash pile in the $30 billion to $40 billion range earned it top marks in Financial Soundness.

Google proved to be just a little more admired in Fortune’s assessment. The Google guys saw their search advertising company settle into the eighth spot, thanks partly to its $900 million founding of do-good corporate foundation Google.org.

That largess likely helped Google nab a top mark in the Social Responsibility attribute. Google also rated first for Innovation and People Management.

The two tech companies have grown more and more competitive for the hearts and minds of the technology-using public. Google has essentially ended the search engine debate with its relevance and speed, while challenging Microsoft for the productivity needs of some of its market.

Microsoft has been attempting to battle with Google for search advertising dollars, by rolling out AdCenter, a competitor to Google’s highly successful AdWords program. Despite the lack of admiration many hold for Microsoft, its continued success means the marketplace for web services and other tech needs should remain a competitive one.

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