The situation is bleak. People are in despair. Then suddenly a breakthrough product emerges to shine a light through the darkness and offer hope to the masses.

That's the classic formula for Apple's acclaimed "1984" commercial, introducing the Macintosh. As it happens, it also describes the approach behind Microsoft's debut TV advertisement this week for its Bing search engine.

To be sure, the Bing ad probably isn't destined for the Advertising Hall of Fame. And before all you Mac fans out there fill my inbox with messages, I'm not putting Microsoft's umpteenth Internet search overhaul in the same league as Apple's iconic personal computer.

But when a friend in the ad business pointed out the subtle parallels between the two spots, the whole thing clicked. Microsoft's best hope against Google is to become in Internet search what Apple has long been in computers -- the scrappy underdog that comes along to compete against the dominant incumbent, with a small slice of the market but a passionate following and a high-quality product, putting itself in position to capitalize on some future technological wave.

So far, Microsoft has gotten very good at the "small slice of the market" thing. The question now is whether it can accomplish the rest.

Bing may be a start. To cultivate a devoted following, Microsoft needs to build on the positive aspects of Bing highlighted by Katherine Boehret of the Wall Street Journal in her review this week.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was even Bing's first official fan.

But will anyone ever say, "the Bing faithful," without laughing?

That will be the real test of Bing's success -- perhaps as much as market share. With 8 percent of the U.S. market in April, compared with Google's 64 percent, it's unreasonable to expect Microsoft to get anywhere close anytime soon, despite some early progress. Google is simply too entrenched in the culture for that to happen.

The magnitude of the challenge is not unlike what Apple faces in the personal-computer market, against machines running Microsoft's Windows operating system. But even with its smaller market position, Apple has been able to build a profitable business, pioneering many of the features that computer users take for granted today.

Just as important, the Mac kept Apple in a position to launch the iPod and then the iPhone. Along the same lines, Internet search is at the center of the broader world of online services. And that broader online world is really what's at stake in the current search battle.

In many ways, as noted by Joe Wilcox and others, that battle is over. Google has won. But if Microsoft can offer a viable and respected alternative, and attract a following, it will have a better chance of taking the lead on the next big thing -- whatever that turns out to be.