As I am not a contractor or affiliated with MSR in any way, I can back you up. In my field MSR is light years ahead of Google when it comes to research impact. Google has been gaining a stronger presence and they are generally seen as more innovative. But for those of my colleagues that want an industry research job, MSR and Google are both very attractive, the old stable one and the new kid in town.
(Disclaimer: I work for Microsoft Research Asia) On the other hand, what Google does get around to publishing is often very strong. Outside of universities, and since IBM lost/dropped/??? most of its researchers, we are the only two big companies left that have strong ties to research.
