Microsoft may start feeling like the Rodney Dangerfield of tech. It just gets no respect.

The latest example comes via an interview that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg just gave to The Wall Street Journal in which he was asked to name his most admired companies.

The usual suspects of tech appear on Zuckeberg’s list, but no Microsoft?

Zuckerberg reportedly told the Journal:

“Amazon is a great recent example of focusing on the long term and accepting shorter margins on the short term. [Amazon CEO] Jeff [Bezos] went through years of people thinking he’s crazy. Apple is amazing in terms of the quality of stuff that they do. And Google, too, for the same thing.”

Business Insider noted the absence of Microsoft, with reporter Jay Yarow pointing out that the omission is interesting given Microsoft’s strong partnership with and investment in Facebook.

Zuckerberg may have just forgotten his good friends in Redmond, but the lack of mention could certainly be viewed as a slight.

After all, Facebook and Microsoft do share a lot in common in terms of how they built powerful platforms that attracted developers. And, as we’ve noted in the past, Zuckerberg’s rise to the top is eerily similar to the path taken by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. (Zuckerberg — like Gates — also has pledged to give away most of his fortune to charity as part of The Giving Pledge).

But Microsoft — despite its huge cash position and market value of $237 billion — oftentimes these days gets left out of conversations about the power players in tech. In fact, during Zuckerberg’s appearance on The Charlie Rose Show last November, the talk show host didn’t include Microsoft:

There are many people who look to the Silicon Valley and they say there are four platforms out here. It’s Amazon, it’s Apple, it’s Google, it’s Facebook. And what we’re going to witness over the next 10 years is a flat-out war between the four of you for the future. How do you see that?

Ouch. That was also the case in a recent poll conducted by CNN, which asked readers and 30 investment professionals who they considered the four most powerful publicly-traded tech companies.

Microsoft didn’t make the cut, losing out to Google, Apple, Amazon and IBM. As I said, no respect.

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