All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

Microsoft and Yahoo

cyocum on 2008-02-02T12:19:21

I was reading about the merger proposal by Microsoft to Yahoo. I am rather firmly opposed to it. When Gates likes to talk about "innovation", it rings rather hollow when Microsoft does not "innovate"; it buys someone in the space they want to enter. Honestly, I would rather see them continue their own search engine than buy Yahoo. Can they not compete by writing their own? I am rather hoping that they get turned down by the various regulatory bodies or by Yahoo's own shareholders.

When does Yahoo innovate?

stu42j on 2008-02-02T18:01:17

"Buy[ing] someone in the space they want to enter" is exactly what Yahoo does. Overture (search engine), eGroups, del.icio.us, flickr, Oddpost, Zimbra, etc.

I believe the Microsoft take-over is more about eyeballs than technology. MS could spend all that money to develop some really great technology but getting people to really use it is a little trickier than that.

Re:When does Yahoo innovate?

cyocum on 2008-02-02T19:45:24

Yeah, you are probably closer to the truth. I am a bit uncomfortable with the fact that google has most of my person information now but I may have to move my flickr pics to them if MS takes over.