Google's success wasn't so much coming up with the best web search technology but finding a way of converting that to billions of dollars in revenues and profits.

To me Google have excelled at both the technology and the marketing - which is why they are so successful.

Having said that, if you can't manage to be good at both technology and marketing, I suspect that you are better off being weak at technology than marketing. Plenty companies thrive with average/poor technology but an excellent understanding of what the market wants. I've known plenty companies (some from the inside) where the technology was good but the marketing was weak - things generally don't turn out too well.

Agreed. Anyone that tries big things often enough will have both successes and failures.

And I do seem to recall an overwhelming success like Windows starting off as somewhat of a failure.