Microsoft is working on quantum computing

Here is a web-page for a Microsoft research group on quantum computing.

A quantum computer could perform some tasks, such as database searches, trillions and trillions of times faster than conventional computers can.

My guess is that a practical quantum computer would be one of the most beneficially disruptive forces to ever hit an economy. A quantum computer would only be able to work on a limited class of problems. But once a quantum computer was developed, entrepreneurs would enthusiastically seek to find practical uses for it.

Google poses the greatest threat to Microsoft. I suspect that some Microsoft executives dream about having a quantum computer that is so good at database searches that it drives Google to technological oblivion.