BREAKING: Microsoft Proposes Yahoo! Takeover at $31 per Share (44 Billion $ Takeover)

[Full of Win]

:eek:

This is NOT a joke.

www.cnbc.com

More: Microsoft Makes $44.6 Billion Bid for Yahoo after Yahoo Rejects Partnerships, Merger

[Cromulent]

More: Microsoft Makes $44.6 Billion Bid for Yahoo after Yahoo Rejects Partnerships, Merger[/quote]

Interesting. I would imagine that Google will be a bit worried about this.

Apple - Google merger anyone?

[Abstract]

Does it really matter? What can Microsoft do with Yahoo that they couldn't do with their MSN service?

I can't really see this being good for Microsoft, really. If they're trying to compete with Google, I guess it may help, but is it worth $45 billion?


And this really should be in the Current Events forum. Not all news belongs here just because the Community forum gets more traffic.

[mward333]

Yeah, it's really amazing.... I can't even comprehend numbers that large!

I don't understand how this will help Microsoft either. I guess that they want to take their search technology to the next level, and this was the way to do it. Perhaps it is their only viable way to stay caught-up with Google, because Google sure appears to have a lot of energy and innovation right now.

[Zwhaler]

Yeah I also agree I don't see how this would help Microsoft, but Microsoft probably has enough money to make this seem like not too huge of a deal.

edit: just kidding!

[Blue Velvet]

And this really should be in the Current Events forum. Not all news belongs here just because the Community forum gets more traffic.

Completely agreed but we're on the main news forum instead; it's that newsworthy.

[thefunkymunky]

M$ buys Yahoo! and turns it into something crap. MSN Search anyone?:rolleyes:

[tringo]

Yeah I also agree I don't see how this would help Microsoft, but Microsoft probably has enough money to make this seem like not too huge of a deal.

Yea Microsoft has about $30bn just in cash right now.

[Zwhaler]

Yea Microsoft has about $30bn just in cash right now.

Oh *****, I thought they had more :o

[davidjearly]

Does it really matter? Why can Microsoft do with Yahoo that they couldn't do with their MSN service?

I can't really see this being good for Microsoft, really. If they're trying to compete with Google, I guess it may help, but is it worth $45 billion?


And this really should be in the Current Events forum. Not all news belongs here just because the Community forum gets more traffic.

I can see it being important to Microsoft who are still struggling to gain marketshare in the search engine market.

As of Jan 2008, marketshare is as follows:

Google: 77%
Yahoo!: 12%
Microsoft: 6%
Others: 5%

So, if MS could bought Yahoo!, it would give them more power in the search engine market. Still no where near Google though. :rolleyes:

[AdeFowler]

One more reason why I'll continue to Google

[thesdx]

Microsoft will never hit it big in the search engine market. They're way too late, and plus, "Google" has already made it into the dictionary as a verb. Nearly everyone uses it. They won't be able to monopolize this industry just by setting Windows Live as the default search provider, either. People are smart now. They know how to get to Google. :)

[Martin C]

I just hope that they don't mess with flickr. I could careless that they are aquiring Yahoo; just leave flickr as it is.

[superleccy]

I think it makes sense for Microsoft, but I hope it doesn't happen.

I've never liked any of Microsoft's web services, but I do use a few of Yahoo!'s (mail, stocks, flickr, kelkoo). MS seem to keep trying to get a decent web presence... and failing. They may as well just buy Yahoo!, so they can screw that up that as well. Go Microsoft!

SL

[Queso]

I see this as yet more evidence that Ballmer is the wrong man for the top job at MS. He's only interested in Yahoo! for two reasons, the advertising revenue and to "****ing Kill Google!!" :rolleyes:. The sales guy wants to peddle sales.

In the meantime their tech products will flounder as their competitors close in. If this continues MS will end up like IBM, a services and consulting based company with a few tech products for the enterprise.

Really quite sad. Sell MSFT if you have it.

[joefinan]

Seems true:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7222114.stm

[Abstract]

I can see it being important to Microsoft who are still struggling to gain marketshare in the search engine market.

As of Jan 2008, marketshare is as follows:

Google: 77%
Yahoo!: 12%
Microsoft: 6%
Others: 5%


Exactly. They're paying $45 billion dollars for another 12% of the market. They're paying a LOT of money to be 2nd place. They may as well buy the other 5% instead of Yahoo.

[jasonh1234]

I just hope that they don't mess with flickr. I could careless that they are aquiring Yahoo; just leave flickr as it is.

You mean Windows Live Photo? :(

[sanford]

Yeah I also agree I don't see how this would help Microsoft, but Microsoft probably has enough money to make this seem like not too huge of a deal.

Because you say, Man, google this for me would you. Apple's still doing well if you check out the charts on Yahoo! Finance. Hey, Jim skyped me from Osaka; yeah, he's still there on his Fulbright deal. Man, you should put this on your iPod, listen to it while you take the train to work (but the person to whom your speaking has a Creative Zen).

And you say, with AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, Skype, Jabber, that idiot buddy of mine still insists on using MSN Messenger, so I have to keep it on my computer.

That's how this will help Microsoft.

Personally, I love the off-to-the-ovens-with-you tone in the announcement. You know, just delousing, that's all, move along, move along. That or a more Ridley Scott does PK Dick "A fabulous new life awaits you in the off-world colonies."

[edesignuk]

I think they're mad.

Yahoo! are going backwards, and I hardly think MS have the know how to turn it around. They can't even make their own online services more popular.

$45bn down the plughole.

[AdeFowler]

I just hope that when Apple decide to spend their billions, it's a bit more imaginative/exciting. If I was a MSFT shareholder I'd find this news to be both underwhelming and worrying. That's a lot of money.

[sanford]

I see this as yet more evidence that Ballmer is the wrong man for the top job at MS. He's only interested in Yahoo! for two reasons, the advertising revenue and to "****ing Kill Google!!" :rolleyes:. The sales guy wants to peddle sales.

In the meantime their tech products will founder as their competitors close in. If this continues MS will end up like IBM, a services and consulting based company with a few tech products for the enterprise.

Really quite sad. Sell MSFT if you have it.

Ballmer is a moron. Compare him to Jobs, when Jobs half-lies to you, cuts corners on customer service, you still walk away feeling like he personally *made* Apple do something for you. Ballmer's "stand behind our product" announcement of taking a 3 billion dollar write-off on 360 repairs, extending the warranty on all 360 consoles to 3 years, refunding anyone who had paid for repairs. He said, We're going to take care of our customers. If anyone has a defective hardware failure up to 3 years after purchase, we're going to take care of you, free, no problem.

What he didn't say: All the 360s hardware problems, pretty much save dropping it, are due to excess heat. The "3 red lights" failure is a heat-related failure. All the other onboard chip failures are heat-related. But you got your 1 light, 2 light and our 3 light failures. He didn't mention the part where you only have 2 lights or 1 light, same defect or no, you can go take a flying leap.

Sinister.

Reminds me of another bald guy we got running things.

[Brize]

I've always thought that Microsoft and Yahoo! have natural synergy - they both offer bloated products with dreadful interfaces. Microsoft will doubtless drag Yahoo! down even further.

[seamuskrat]

I feel this is a bit alarming as a Mac user.

While the iPhone supports Gmail nicely, many ISPs bundle services with Yahoo which plays nice with the iPhone as well. I would hate to see MSFT take Yahoo and somehow bastardize it to become Apple/iPhone unfreindly, whick is very possible.

More concerning is the fact that variety and competition is good. Yahoo has plusses and minuses. I like some of the free servies they provide like Yahoo Answers, Flickr, etc. I have found the entire Microsoft Live and MSN and Hotmail family to be lacking. I would always get spam, never plays nice with Firefox, Opera, etc. ( maybe it does now, I have not tried in a while).

All in all, I fear that Microsoft will try to rebrand Yahoo and steer its tarffic to a Branded product and thus hurt a lot fo what makes it tick.

As another poster stated, it makes some sense for MSFT to buy the other 5% and start a massive ad campaign. But unless Google stumbles, they have no hope. But perhaps Yahoo knows they also have no hope and this is a fast and cheap bail out to make the founders millions more and exit the game early.

[EagerDragon]

I use Google not Yahoo, now I have a strong reason not to use Yahoo.
M$ will not get money from me or because of me if I can help it.

[stomer]

This deal seems to be all about advertising and removing a competitor. I'm not sure MS cares about stuff like Flickr unless it's bringing in advertising revenue.
This move would be bad for current users of Yahoo! services as MS would make Yahoo! dogfood its technologies.

1. Yahoo! Mail. There's no point in having 2 mail services. POP access would be disabled. Yahoo mail users would eventually have to move over to Hotmail. If Yahoo! mail doesn't already run on MS technologies, then that would have to change.
2. Flickr. They'd probably keep that. Although they'd try to migrate the platform to MS technologies. You'd need to use your Windows Live account to sign-in though.
3 Yahoo! Messenger. That would go. At least the client would. No need to 2 messaging protocols. No need for 2 clients.

[rezatayebi]

Yahoo! is not doing very well right now. I`m sure they`ll accept the offer.http://www.pic4ever.com/images/2.gif
I don`t care about Google at all. I hope there won`t be any harm to Mac users cause I use a lot of Yahoo! services on my Mac.http://www.pic4ever.com/images/1.gif

[MacBoobsPro]

Some one tell me what 'Saccharomyces cerevisiae' means and tell me how you found the information. One word will do. ;)

[johnmcboston]

I just hope that they don't mess with flickr. I could careless that they are aquiring Yahoo; just leave flickr as it is.

That's where I'm heading. Not a big fan of Y!, but Flikr is decent, and they've managed to hold Y!groups together after acquiring it. MS seems to break everything they touch.

[edesignuk]

Some one tell me what 'Saccharomyces cerevisiae' means and tell me how you found the information. One word will do. ;)
yeast. point?

[joefinan]

Is this showing on Mac Rumors because Apple seems to have quite an active relationship with Yahoo?

Would that relationship end?

[AdeFowler]

Some one tell me what 'Saccharomyces cerevisiae' means and tell me how you found the information. One word will do. ;)


Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a species of budding yeast.

Googled ;)

[kanaka]

This is unfortunate. Yahoo! has the most traffic of any site in the world:
http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=global

I don't really want Microsoft owning all that traffic.

[137489]

YA-WHO?

Personally, I stopped using YAHOO when they started stinking and Google came along. Google's search engine is much better, their GMAIL product is superb. I have not found anything useful with YAHOO in years. The fact that Microsoft is bidding to take them over just puts Bills Gates statement into further motion, where he wants to transform the web and do away with HTML and come up with his own web language as a standard that only Microsoft IE can read.

I still say the future will be Apple and Google.

[joefinan]

This is unfortunate. Yahoo! has the most traffic of any site in the world:
http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=global

I don't really want Microsoft owning all that traffic.

That surprises me.

But look down the list and Google shows up about 40 times (.co.uk, .fr, .de etc), Yahoo only 3 times. I think Google traffic is actually higher than Yahoo.

[pmoeser]

Apple - Google merger anyone?

I've dreamed of that for some time.

Before the MacBooks and iPhone, I also thought there might be a bit of Sony involved (hardware, manufacturing plants, online applications, search, gaming platform and content.

M$? Who are they...

[Porco]

This is horrible... I got a free yahoo email account precisely because I hate hotmail... don't like Gmail either on principle.

[jpferreira]

I just hope that they don't mess with flickr. I could careless that they are aquiring Yahoo; just leave flickr as it is.

I totally agree!!

[macinfojunkie]

That surprises me.

But look down the list and Google shows up about 40 times (.co.uk, .fr, .de etc), Yahoo only 3 times. I think Google traffic is actually higher than Yahoo.

Don't forget U-Bend is @ No. 3, which in all but brand is GoogleTV.

[sfwalter]

Looks like I need to find a new email account.

[hvfsl]

All that will happen is MSYahoo will lose even more market share to Google because they will make such a mess of the takeover.

I am struggling to think of any takeovers like this that have gone well. Most seem to split after a while.

[stomer]

I totally agree!!
I disagree actually. Just imagine how much better Flickr would be if they were to rid Flickr of all that Flash and replace it with Silverlight! ;)

[jpferreira]

That's where I'm heading. Not a big fan of Y!, but Flikr is decent, and they've managed to hold Y!groups together after acquiring it. MS seems to break everything they touch.

you know king midas? not microsoft..

please don't mess with flickr, ozzie.. have fun with Y!Answers! :rolleyes:

[AdeFowler]

This is unfortunate. Yahoo! has the most traffic of any site in the world:
http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=global

I don't really want Microsoft owning all that traffic.

Well according to this site (http://www.ranking.com/?xcmpx=2113) it's Google. The Alexa stats are misleading to say the least.

[nagromme]

Now games on Yahoo that DO have Mac versions will say Windows-only, and Yahoo Messenger will lag way behind the Windows version :mad:

Oh, wait, that's Yahoo now....

If you have to look for a silver lining: maybe the Mac BU can be of some use to Yahoo in supporting Mac users.

[MacBoobsPro]

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a species of budding yeast.

Googled ;)

Excellent!

[countach]

The only way MS can dig themselves out of their mess is to hire some geeks and start churning out exciting products. This takeover (I can hardly believe it is true it is so stupid) is like a cry for help. They'll burn a lot of cash and still be heading down.

[shamino]

Does it really matter? What can Microsoft do with Yahoo that they couldn't do with their MSN service?
They eliminate a competitor. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm worried that they will start changing Yahoo's services to become Mac-incompatible. I'd really hate to have to give up my Yahoo mailbox and re-host my two mailing lists to a different server.

Embrace, extend and extinguish.

[kanaka]

Well according to this site (http://www.ranking.com/?xcmpx=2113) it's Google. The Alexa stats are misleading to say the least.

That site has Yahoo at number 2. The main point is that Microsoft will gain a lot of traffic and power, as if they didn't have enough.

[pilotError]

What a shame.

I have to look for a new email account now :(

[Digitalclips]

Yeah I also agree I don't see how this would help Microsoft, but Microsoft probably has enough money to make this seem like not too huge of a deal.

edit: just kidding!

It might be MS looking for a new business down the road. Once everyone has 'switched' what else are they going to do? :)

[brad.c]

I don't think this will work for MS in the long run. You can't buy momentum, just technology. Google, and Apple for that matter, have more recent successful track records for making technology relevant to real life.

[oantixo]

Two words... Microsoft Suck's! www.****microsoft.com

long live the :apple:

[Makosuke]

Well, gee, as if I didn't hate my DSL service on principle enough (supplied by AT& "We will turn off your internet connection if you badmouth us" T), now MS is going to own the mail and bonus services part of it. And no doubt break my email service even more than Yahoo has managed to do (their worthless spam filtering seems to be of the "EVERYTHING is spam!" variety, although I do like the web 2.0 webmail interface).

The day this is approved is the day I cancel service and switch to cable.

Which absolutely sucks, I might add, since I live like half a block from the phone substation.

Dammit.


I do completely agree that this stinks of flushing money down the toilet for absolutely no gain--it's going to hurt both companies even in the moderately short run, and 45Bn is a lot even for MS. Balmer must seriously be losing it.

[Kipling]

This is unfortunate. Yahoo! has the most traffic of any site in the world:
http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=global

I don't really want Microsoft owning all that traffic.

I may be wrong, but I think the Alexa data is harvested from IE browsers running the Alexa toolbar. So it's a self-selecting sample group and not necessarily representative of the wider world of internet-users.

I think.

http://www.imilly.com/alexa.htm

[Evangelion]

Apple - Google merger anyone?

Manufacturer of mp3-players, cell-phones and computer merging with a online-search company? Yeah, I can see how that makes sense....

[2A Batterie]

The end is near.

[Popeye206]

This is just too bad for Yahoo.... MSN sucks and Yahoo is okay, now MS can mess up what there is good about Yahoo. In all... this is a HUGE waste of money at MS and their shareholders should be P**s'd off. They would have been better off spending the money to do better with Vista.

This looks like a desperate move to me... not a good thing for MS.

[BOSS10L]

Ugh...M$ up to it's old tricks again. How about taking that $44B and building an XBOX 360 that doesn't break? Or put it into better virus fighting programs for Windows? Or make the Zune a little less unhip. :rolleyes:

Like others, it is time to find a new e-mail provider. I guess I may give .mac a shot.

[eastcoastsurfer]

Couple interesting things. Google missed their earnings numbers yesterday, which this news is mostly overshadowing. Could their momentum be slowing? Second, I'm surprised MS is trying to grab yahoo now. Yahoo has been slipping and going into a possible recession you had to think they were going to get cheaper.

MS really wants to get their web presence boosted though. Now I know why I'm getting emails every few days from their recruiters to apply for their web platform team...

[angelneo]

This is unfortunate. Yahoo! has the most traffic of any site in the world:
http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=global

I don't really want Microsoft owning all that traffic.
You might have to look at how Alexa rank the sites. Notice that quite a few of the top 500 sites are different google sites; google.cn (rank 68), google.co.in (rank 49) etc, now compare that to yahoo.

[Cromulent]

Manufacturer of mp3-players, cell-phones and computer merging with a online-search company? Yeah, I can see how that makes sense....

What services do those mobile phones use though? Hmm let me think.... oh yes Google. Which company are Apple in a business alliance with? Hmmm let me think... oh yes Google. Which CEO (apart from Intels) made an appearance at Mac World? I'll save the sarcasm, Googles. Need I go on?

Oh and with Google supposedly entering the phone market there is more of a cross over between the two companies.

[godrifle]

...that's gonna turn out? :eek::p:D

[Project]

To those saying MS has the money, well, this is still a hugely significant amount for even them. It's a make or break move.

[mikef07]

Come on people. Do you not understand how investments work. Yahoo currently has 12.5 Billion in assets and 3.0 Billion in liabilities. That is net 9.5 Billion in assets. They also show a profit of 4.13 Billion.

If they spend $44 Billion - $9 Billion in assets= $35 Billion for the business or profit making part. They are getting 12% return on their money. That is not too bad. Not to mention Microsoft probably feels like they can grow the business and incorporate some of their current offerings into Yahoo.

[alec]

RIP Flickr?

[BenRoethig]

I feel this is a bit alarming as a Mac user.

While the iPhone supports Gmail nicely, many ISPs bundle services with Yahoo which plays nice with the iPhone as well. I would hate to see MSFT take Yahoo and somehow bastardize it to become Apple/iPhone unfreindly, whick is very possible.


Like they just did with hotmail, excuse me live mail, and Safari.

[t0mat0]

The concept of Yahoo! Microsoft! Live! Mail! is not a fun one. At least you've got free IMAP and POP3 options with Yahoo currently. Microsoft upgrades their search from awful Live search to Yahoo level search. Isn't the big thing snagging all the forum and mail users and searchers?
Ominous bodings for the concept of getting lots of people locked into the Live system and onto Vista, as per the CES Gate's demo, showing how people will use Windows systems in the future...

[shen]

"This is unfortunate. Yahoo! has the most traffic of any site in the world:
http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=global

I don't really want Microsoft owning all that traffic."

first, as others have pointed out, that is pretty misleading in more than one way. second, MS is the reverse of king Midas. if they touch yahoo it will turn to turd....

if this happens yahoo will begin a long downhill slide into oblivion. monkey boy has no idea how to run a company. :D

[cohibadad]

MS knows how to pick new, rising, innovative companies. Farewell billions. This should shock their flatline stock.

[lucky3killer]

Like they just did with hotmail, excuse me live mail, and Safari.

Yup, hotmail don't work on safari, that made me to use firefox.

[BenRoethig]

Yup, hotmail don't work on safari, that made me to use firefox.

It used to before Safari went cross platform and became a threat to internet exploder. Doesn't work the best with Firefox either. Imagine that.

[yesthisisapc]

Yup, hotmail don't work on safari, that made me to use firefox.

Uhh...

*stops checking hotmail on Safari right now*

[chicagostars]

Ya-Who? Interesting development, not on its own, but when paired with Microsoft's acquisition of aQuantive last year. This proposed takeover gives then an established web portal and search engine (a lot of us here may see Yahoo as crap, but there are many un-savvy people out there) to go along with their own interactive agency (Avenue A|Razorfish), a digital advertising network (Drive PM), and their own advertising platform and tool set (Atlas).

It seems like one of their hopes is to get really big in web advertising which, despite what many of us may think about banner ads and the like, is huge and has rebounded greatly over the past few years. Their subsidiaries can now sell potential clients on the possibility of a rich media -- video banners and the like -- advertising solution combined with search engine optimization and great placement in searches on MSN and Yahoo.

A lot of rambling to say that the acquisition of Yahoo appears to be part of a larger plan, not a one off. I'm not arguing that it will work, though. :D

[Baron58]

Some one tell me what 'Saccharomyces cerevisiae' means and tell me how you found the information. One word will do. ;)
http://www.google.com/search?q=Saccharomyces+cerevisiae

[lucky3killer]

It used to before Safari went cross platform and became a threat to internet exploder. Doesn't work the best with Firefox either. Imagine that.

It work so ok for firefox on mine since I'm using beta version of firefox 3.

[pagansoul]

I just hope that they don't mess with flickr. I could careless that they are aquiring Yahoo; just leave flickr as it is.

This is my big fear. I was upset when Yahoo took over flickr and had to drop my sign-on. I don't know what MS will do with my email account. Thank the Goddess my main email account is via Netzero, has been for 15 years.

[Bonte]

Yea Microsoft has about $30bn just in cash right now.

According to Google invest, MS Total Current Assets is 37 billion, Apple has 18 billion in Cash & Short Term Investments and 26 billion total assets.

Is Microsoft really losing that much windows/office profit on other activities? :confused:

[Evangelion]

What services do those mobile phones use though?

AT&T, Orange, O2 and Deutche Telekom. Should they merge with Apple?

Hmm let me think.... oh yes Google.

In some places. Just because iPhone has a Google Maps-client is not a compelling reason to merge the two companies. "Let's do a HUGE merger, because we really like that Google Maps-client!"

Which company are Apple in a business alliance with? Hmmm let me think... oh yes Google.

And Audible, and Intel, and music-labels, and movie-studios, Yahoo, AT&T.... Should Apple merge with all of those?

Which CEO (apart from Intels) made an appearance at Mac World? I'll save the sarcasm, Googles. Need I go on?

CEO of Sony once appeared at Stevenote. Clearly Sony and Apple should merge! CEO of Fox appeared on stage at Macworld, clearly Fox and Apple should merge!

Need I go on?

[gifford]

Oh NO! Poor Yahoo. I have never voted before but felt obliged this time. This is the worst news the tech industry has dealt with in years. It's like the princess Diana crash for nerds.

[justflie]

LOL! And this will help M$ convince the world/government that they're not a monopoly how? :rolleyes:

[pcorajr]

This sucks... please do not screw around with Flickr It is the only and favorite service i use in yahoo.

[furcalchick]

i wonder what it's going to do with the sports section of the site, especially fantasy sports? dump it, or will ms force it elsewhere?

and i hope they don't dump y! messenger in place for msn. yahoo is the best im service out there, and msn's is just awful.

[ziwi]

One more reason why I'll continue to Google
That is precise reason that they made this move - to compete more directly with google. They can pump funds into yahoo and fight what is their real arch enemy - google - Apple is not there yet as the % of market for OS and browser are not really seen as a threat, but MSFT has been seeing google as a problem for a while.

[tcoleman]

if this happens yahoo will begin a long downhill slide into oblivion. monkey boy has no idea how to run a company. :D

Maybe you haven't been paying attention, but Yahoo! is already on that slide. This buyout is actually a GOOD THING for YHOO investors. Yada yada ... Microsoft sucks, etc.

[lshaner]

“Our lives, our businesses, and even our society have been progressively transformed by the Web, and Yahoo! has played a pioneering role by building compelling, high-scale services and infrastructure,” said Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft. “The combination of these two great teams would enable us to jointly deliver a broad range of new experiences to our customers that neither of us would have achieved on our own.”

So Microsoft loves the innovative work that Yahoo has done with highly specialized linux to achieve those "high-scale" services?

Does anyone think that the creative geniuses who have invested their blood sweat and tears into perfecting that infrastructure are going to stick around to see Microsoft impose their own technology...ergo destroy what Yahoo has created?

Sad day... :-( Similar to when Microsoft bought Visio. Similar to when EMC bought VMware. :-(

[petvas]

Microsoft is playing the big boss again. By acquiring Yahoo they will eliminate one of the major competitors and use Yahoo technology to make their products better. It's as simple as that...

[Queso]

That is precise reason that they made this move - to compete more directly with google. They can pump funds into yahoo and fight what is their real arch enemy - google - Apple is not there yet as the % of market for OS and browser are not really seen as a threat, but MSFT has been seeing google as a problem for a while.
Exactly. Google stuff is pretty much platform agnostic. They make it possible for people to leave Windows behind. Add in that 90% of Mozilla's income comes from Google and they are the biggest thorn in Microsoft's side by a long way.

Apple have had their own victories. For instance Cupertino has completely destroyed Redmond's plan for DRM domination, and now it looks as if their smartphone strategy will go the same way. However, a lot of Apple's success can be traced back to Google's re-enabling of the platform-agnostic Internet.

[hob]

Gah. Hands off my Flickr, Microshaft!

Why can't they just concentrate on making Windows good? Stop getting above their station. Leave the internet to Google, who clearly do it best, and make their product half decent?!

[MacGeek7]

I still say the future will be Apple and Google.

And if they merged we could call it Apple-Goo...remember the iPhone keynote when the CEO of Google gave us that wonderful name

[Blue Velvet]

Exactly. Google stuff is pretty much platform agnostic. They make it possible for people to leave Windows behind. Add in that 90% of Mozilla's income comes from Google and they are the biggest thorn in Microsoft's side by a long way.


Microsoft are going to have tough time competing directly with Google without slaughtering their cash cows: Windows and Office. They're in a bind; they never really grasped the web at the right time, and now they're paying... oh dear, never mind.

[Cromulent]

AT&T, Orange, O2 and Deutche Telekom. Should they merge with Apple?

In some places. Just because iPhone has a Google Maps-client is not a compelling reason to merge the two companies. "Let's do a HUGE merger, because we really like that Google Maps-client!"

And Audible, and Intel, and music-labels, and movie-studios, Yahoo, AT&T.... Should Apple merge with all of those?

CEO of Sony once appeared at Stevenote. Clearly Sony and Apple should merge! CEO of Fox appeared on stage at Macworld, clearly Fox and Apple should merge!

Need I go on?

I think your missing the point somewhat. Google offers services and Apple offers devices. Seems a perfect match to me, especially when you consider the way the mobile phone / PDA market is headed.

The difference between Google and the other companies that you list is that in terms of company ethos and innovation the two are more a like than just their products may suggest.

[elppa]

Apple announce record profits, margins. Analyst predict market share doubling
– stocks tank.

Microsoft (failing web services provider) buy another web services provider (also failing, but not by so much) for stupid-o-money
- stocks rise.

I think I beginning to understand how the stock market works.

On another note, it's how much you spend, it's how you spend it that counts? This is a poor investment. No one wants or needs Windows Live!. Most people I know still call it “MSN”, a throwback to another failed attempt by Microsoft to rule the internet.

[hob]

I think your missing the point somewhat. Google offers services and Apple offers devices. Seems a perfect match to me, especially when you consider the way the mobile phone / PDA market is headed.

The difference between Google and the other companies that you list is that in terms of company ethos and innovation the two are more a like than just their products may suggest.

I think the point is that just because all of these companies make excellent products, does not mean that they should merge. Companies can always collaborate together (such as Google Maps on iPhone) without needing to merge.

[Spanners]

Microsoft is playing the big boss again. By acquiring Yahoo they will eliminate one of the major competitors and use Yahoo technology to make their products better. It's as simple as that...

Here here!

You know what they say, If you can't beat them..buy them.

Thank <insert your deity here> they don't have enough cash to take over...I mean..."merge" with Google

[applefan69]

I have always been unable to stand yahoo. Something about the way they design their sites annoys me.

The way everything is set up annoys me

seriously i cant explain it, but there has NEVER been anything about yahoo i liked.. maybe google brainwashed me with Gmail?


idk what it is, all i know is this just gives me another reason to NEVER wanna use yahoo. I literally avoid anything on the internet that yahoo has anything to do with.

Another thing is, I've never liked windows live much either... i'll admit I've never used it much, mainly because by time windows live search came out, google was already at it's peek. But i've used Hotmail enough to have a fair opinion on it.. and I can honestly say I can't imagine why anyone WOULD use hotmail. (OR yahoo mail for that matter) When Gmail, beats BOTH of them in so many ways.

I cant see this helping neither microsoft nor Yahoo!.... I dont see this going over well, and that is ALOT of money microsoft is investing... if microsoft only has 30Billion does this mean it'll put microsoft in debt?.... Why is microsoft making such a dumb move.

With Apple gaining speed, microsoft is soon gonna have to start worrying about apple.

With Google (at the moment) beating Yahoo horribly.

This seems like an extremely bad move on microsofts part... but then again why should I care?

[diamond.g]

Microsoft are going to have tough time competing directly with Google without slaughtering their cash cows: Windows and Office. They're in a bind; they never really grasped the web at the right time, and now they're paying... oh dear, never mind.

I seem to recall seeing an article that talked about how microsoft want's to move office/windows to an online (read:subscription) based model. I forgot where I saw this, I'll post the link if I run into it again. But that would be a scary day (the subscription bit). They are part of the way there with the activation stuff...

[Manatee]

If the deal happens, they should call the combined company Yahoo!, and purge all reference to the Microsoft name. Yahoo! is young, cool, and nice. Microsoft it a greedy, bloodthirsty, capitalism machine. ;)

[Eidorian]

Sounds like a bid from Microsoft to buy a small sliver of innovation and kill off a competitor. While not as news breaking as Google, Yahoo! has managed to maintain and acquire (I'm looking at you My Yahoo!, Yahoo! Mail, del.icio.us, and flickr) its own small realm decent services.

Microsoft is just tossing money to try to get some sort of vital signs.

[elppa]

Why is microsoft making such a dumb move.

With Apple gaining speed, microsoft is soon gonna have to start worrying about apple.

Microsoft make a lot of dumb moves, it's just not talked about much.

And although they'll never admit it publicly, Microsoft is terrified of Apple. A lot big markets Microsoft wants to get into (or areas they have tried to get into and failed) Apple is already in and competing hard in with better, more innovative products.

Not that any of this will matter too much whilst they still have their Office and Windows cash cows. They just won't be able to grow their business.

[sunfast]

My webspace is with yahoo as are my mailboxes. I really hope they don't get stuffed up

[Otaviano]

This move in my opinion backs the fact that Microsoft is being lead by a blind man. I've never understood Steve Ballmer's obsession with trying to destroy Google. Microsoft desperately needs to find a CEO with a sense of vision because right now they are really stagnant.

[SactoGuy18]

I do believe that Microsoft will buy Yahoo!, but likely will spin off a number of divisions of Yahoo! to satisfy the FTC in the USA and EU regulators. Most of the companies spun off won't affect Microsoft's business anyway.

[Zadillo]

So Microsoft loves the innovative work that Yahoo has done with highly specialized linux to achieve those "high-scale" services?

Does anyone think that the creative geniuses who have invested their blood sweat and tears into perfecting that infrastructure are going to stick around to see Microsoft impose their own technology...ergo destroy what Yahoo has created?

Sad day... :-( Similar to when Microsoft bought Visio. Similar to when EMC bought VMware. :-(

I thought Yahoo used FreeBSD primarily? Or have they switched to Linux for a lot of what they're doing?

[Zadillo]

Apple announce record profits, margins. Analyst predict market share doubling
– stocks tank.

Microsoft (failing web services provider) buy another web services provider (also failing, but not by so much) for stupid-o-money
- stocks rise.

I think I beginning to understand how the stock market works.

On another note, it's how much you spend, it's how you spend it that counts? This is a poor investment. No one wants or needs Windows Live!. Most people I know still call it “MSN”, a throwback to another failed attempt by Microsoft to rule the internet.

MSFT is down about 5% right now.... the only stock rising is Yahoo (up 48% so far), which is logical given the acquisition offer.

[stomer]

MSFT is down about 5% right now.... the only stock rising is Yahoo (up 48% so far), which is logical given the acquisition offer.

My dashboard is telling me that Yahoo! is up 96%

[PlaceofDis]

this has a lot more implications than just with google, imo.

there are a lot of companies partnered with yahoo for various things. like Apple and the yahoo push to the iphone. or att and yahoo dsl. the list goes on.

if microsoft takes over what happens to these arrangements?

[Quiara]

Yargh. MS is the Regions bank of the online world. I open an account in an independent bank, Regions buys it out. I hate Regions, so I move on. But that freakin' bank keeps following me. I've had my Yahoo account for something like 12 years now, but if MS acquires it, it's sure to go the way of my Hotmail. Deserted, defunct. *sigh* I'm a Google girl at heart, anyhow.

[stomer]

I thought Yahoo used FreeBSD primarily? Or have they switched to Linux for a lot of what they're doing?

I found this post on Slashdot interesting:
"A consolidation of the Microsoft and Yahoo networks could shift a massive amount of infrastructure from open source technologies to Microsoft platforms.Microsoft said that "eliminating redundant infrastructure and duplicative operating costs will improve the financial performance of the combined entity." Yahoo has been a major player in several open soruce projects. Most of Yahoo's infrastructure runs on FreeBSD, and the lead developer of PHP, Rasmus Lerdorf, works as an engineer at Yahoo."

Rasmus employed by Microsoft? The take-over, if it does indeed take place, will have a tangible effect on the open source community.

[mr.666]

no. please, no. guess ill have to get a g-mail account to rep my yahoo :D
guess Flicker will end up Flubber.

[Agathon]

This looks like a desperation move to counter Google if you ask me. 44 billion dollars plus the billions they've already spent on MSN and Live.

It's a testament to how bad a monopoly Microsoft is that things have even been allowed to get that far. Any normal business would have been subject to shareholder pressure or gone bankrupt by now. As it is, every person who has to use Windows or Office is paying for these clowns to waste money on an epic scale.

[Naimfan]

guess ill have to get a g-mail account to rep my yahoo :D


Yep. Just did that.

[Unspeaked]

This isn't about search, it's about:

Yahoo! Mail

Yahoo! Answers

Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo! Sports (specifically Fantasy Sports)

GeoCities

HotJobs

Flickr

del.icio.us

Those are some nice little brands that have much greater followings than MSN's similar offerings.

The search and advertising is a nice bonus.

You can use search numbers to skew this deal and make it look like it's pointless and leads to no net gain versus Google, but this isn't about search.

[gifford]

Yargh. MS is the Regions bank of the online world. I open an account in an independent bank, Regions buys it out. I hate Regions, so I move on. But that freakin' bank keeps following me. I've had my Yahoo account for something like 12 years now, but if MS acquires it, it's sure to go the way of my Hotmail. Deserted, defunct. *sigh* I'm a Google girl at heart, anyhow.

I know how you feel, i too had a hotmail account, and now own a yahoo mail account.
Why wont they just piss off and leave me alone.

[Hankster]

Interesting development. I'm not surprised though, MS has been unable to get any large percentage of the online world. Yahoo would be an interesting purchase, but Google still is on top. An Apple/Google partnership would be interesting.

[BlakTornado]

I am struggling to think of any takeovers like this that have gone well. Most seem to split after a while.

Adobe and Macromedia.

The end is near.

For Microsoft and Yahoo, that is.

What services do those mobile phones use though? Hmm let me think.... oh yes Google. Which company are Apple in a business alliance with? Hmmm let me think... oh yes Google. Which CEO (apart from Intels) made an appearance at Mac World? I'll save the sarcasm, Googles. Need I go on?

Oh and with Google supposedly entering the phone market there is more of a cross over between the two companies.

Youtube is a Google brand, too... and we ALL know how successful that one is. iMovie lets you upload directly to Youtube. Safari's default (And only, I think) search is Google. Apple + Google are a good partnership but I do not think that they'll merge.

and i hope they don't dump y! messenger in place for msn. yahoo is the best im service out there, and msn's is just awful.

As far as I am aware, more people use MSN. Yahoo! Messenger is likely to be killed off in favor of MSN or be integrated with it instead.

This sucks... please do not screw around with Flickr It is the only and favorite service i use in yahoo.

I agree... but Microsoft WILL interfere. It's kinda impossible for them not to. They'll make it Windows only, try and remove all Mac (And Apple TV) integration and then make you have to pay even more for Flickr's services.

[Unspeaked]

MSFT is down about 5% right now.... the only stock rising is Yahoo (up 48% so far), which is logical given the acquisition offer.

Also worth noting: Google is down 50 points (or nearly 9%)!

[Consultant]

To those saying MS has the money, well, this is still a hugely significant amount for even them. It's a make or break move.

Hopefully MS will be like AOL
in the AOL + Time Warner merger.

=)

[phuong]

why do people hate MSFT so much.
i think this is a good move. YHOO has been doing very bad in recent years. and they show no signs of improving. therefore they should accept the generous offer from MSFT.

[dmelgar]

I use Yahoo lots. Email, finance, groups.

Time to move to Google. I avoid Microsoft like the plague. They corrupt anything they touch.

[dmelgar]

why do people hate MSFT so much.
i think this is a good move. YHOO has been doing very bad in recent years. and they show no signs of improving. therefore they should accept the generous offer from MSFT.
Because Microsoft historically always acts like the big bully thug threatening companies and customers to do what it wants. Never innovating, stealing ideas for others.

[PlaceofDis]

why do people hate MSFT so much.
i think this is a good move. YHOO has been doing very bad in recent years. and they show no signs of improving. therefore they should accept the generous offer from MSFT.

the reason this is bad for yahoo and people don't like microsoft is because they make everything proprietary and its their way or the highway.

yes i know apple are like this at times too, but they're track record leans to being more flexible than MS

[Project]

holy **** @ the Yahoo stock. they've been thrown a lifeline. sell!

[Daveoc64]

Because Microsoft historically always acts like the big bully thug threatening companies and customers to do what it wants. Never innovating, stealing ideas for others.

You could say that about any large company.

[benspratling]

Not that I use Yahoo for much as it is simply not as good as Google, but I do use yahoo movies. Well, I guess we'll get see just how bad microsoft can screw things up.

But wasn't it awesome to hear Microsoft admit they screwed up with MSN?

Yahoo stock owners, don't sell until you double your money!

Yahoo employees: quick, make copies of all your files and resign from the company, start a new one and make those M$ thugs eat their hat.

[nbs2]

Or make the Zune a little less unhip.

What is wrong with the Zune? Granted the 1G was noting more than a brick with some glass, but the 2G isn't a bad device. There are a few things about it that aren't that smart, but it holds up well compared to - it's direct competitors - the Classic and the Nano.

Like they just did with hotmail, excuse me live mail, and Safari.

With Safari, perhaps. But, I remember signing up for Hotmail before MS picked them up. The service was good, but I remember the explosion in quantity of people that signed up for addresses after. It became much easier for me to reach people over email.

I don't see MS putting a whole lot of time into Yahoo. Rather, they will treat it live a direct line of credit, with some cost-addressing managers installed to stem the bleeding. Sure MS has lost money in several areas, but when they put their minds to it, they come out greener. Additionally, this should help MS turn around their flagging divisions, as Yahoo will bring in some fresher ideas, and perhaps a stronger understanding of the markets that MS is failing to gain a solid comprehension of.

I have always been unable to stand yahoo. Something about the way they design their sites annoys me.

The way everything is set up annoys me

seriously i cant explain it, but there has NEVER been anything about yahoo i liked.. maybe google brainwashed me with Gmail?

Did you ever use Yahoo in the early days? Their greatest strength was as a portal. It really was a thing of beauty. Their quick expansion into several areas has cost them money, without giving them a time to establish a strong foothold. By spreading themselves so thin, it has been hard to support their various divisions. That has led to poor management decisions on occasion, not because of stupidity, but because of a lack of preparation or willingness to set aside personal bias. What MS gives them are personnel with training and management understanding, and the resources to defend their gains while bringing in more external talent (and retaining what they do have).

[EagerDragon]

Probably impossible, but I hope this puts M$ in financial trouble.

Since M$ already have a similar service (MSN), I wonder how many Yahoo employees will be out on the street since M$ does not need that many people when they join both businesses.

Happens all the time in mergers, a lot of good people are put on the street.

While I understand why, it is still not palatable if you happen to be one of those loosing your job.

[savar]

I feel this is a bit alarming as a Mac user.

While the iPhone supports Gmail nicely, many ISPs bundle services with Yahoo which plays nice with the iPhone as well. I would hate to see MSFT take Yahoo and somehow bastardize it to become Apple/iPhone unfreindly, whick is very possible.

The other interesting aspect is that Yahoo is the biggest site in the world (I think -- no citation offered) to use PHP...

I imagine if MS buys them up, my guess is that they will convert the whole site to AS or .net or whatever it is they push now. That would be a big loss for Zend (makers of PHP).

[EagerDragon]

The other interesting aspect is that Yahoo is the biggest site in the world (I think -- no citation offered) to use PHP...

I imagine if MS buys them up, my guess is that they will convert the whole site to AS or .net or whatever it is they push now. That would be a big loss for Zend (makers of PHP).

Hehe, maybe they will switch everything to Windows server and run it on Mac hardware, LOL (not a chance).

[Project]

The other interesting aspect is that Yahoo is the biggest site in the world (I think -- no citation offered) to use PHP...

I imagine if MS buys them up, my guess is that they will convert the whole site to AS or .net or whatever it is they push now. That would be a big loss for Zend (makers of PHP).

Most of Yahoo's infrastructure runs on FreeBSD

They also own Zimbra, which is mostly open source and one of the best competitors to Outlook/Exchange.

Pretty big consequences for this move

[louden]

Does anyone not remember the fiasco that was Time Warner buying AOL?

Any synergies created by this merger will vaporize in the matter of weeks. Microsoft knows their future in earnings growth is going to tank once the actual sales of Windows and Office start to fall off. Sure Server and Tools is doing good - but not good enough to carry the company.

[madmax_2069]

My ISP uses Yahoo for the email service. this is just so wrong, they have their MSN services.

someone should step in and void it, its BS and is just Microsoft's normal behavior in wanting to be the only provider of anything.

[tacojohn]

I just hope that they don't mess with flickr. I could careless that they are aquiring Yahoo; just leave flickr as it is.

I couldn't agree more!

[Unspeaked]

Does anyone not remember the fiasco that was Time Warner buying AOL?

Any synergies created by this merger will vaporize in the matter of weeks. Microsoft knows their future in earnings growth is going to tank once the actual sales of Windows and Office start to fall off the floor. Sure Server and Tools is doing good - but not good enough to carry the company.

Actually, it was AOL that bought Time Warner. Really.

In any case, that was a new media company buying an old media company. Though I'm sure there would still be some bumps in the road, Microsoft and Yahoo! are in enough alignment that it should be a lot smoother than that.

[MacTO]

As of 11:14 a.m. EST, this is where they stand. Hmm... Wonder it would really help Microsoft in terms of competing against Google? Really. I think it'll be really bad for Yahoo! Man... I am sure that people at Yahoo! think of the old glorious days back in 1999 a lot when its stock was hovering over $108. :D

P.S. Yahoo! has climbed up pretty good since the bid was made from just over $19 (at closing yesterday) to $27 (currently)...

Cheers! :apple:

[Zadillo]

What is wrong with the Zune? Granted the 1G was noting more than a brick with some glass, but the 2G isn't a bad device. There are a few things about it that aren't that smart, but it holds up well compared to - it's direct competitors - the Classic and the Nano.

The only "problem" with the Zune really is that it is basically a nice alternative to its "direct competitors", the Classic and the Nano. There's nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but the thing is, if you are trying to really get attention in the marketplace, you need to do more than just being a nice alternative with maybe a few things that are a bit better. You need to do something that is significantly better. On the larger scale of course, the iPod Classic and Nano are essentially transitional devices, the last gasps of the "old" iPod interface.

I think the only other problem with the Zune is that they finally got something that matched and sometimes exceeded the "old" iPod, but the competition now is with the new iPhone/iPod Touch interface and capabilities.

Also worth noting: Google is down 50 points (or nearly 9%)!

I think that has more to do with the missed earnings goals from yesterday.

-Zadillo

[ChrisA]

Interesting. I would imagine that Google will be a bit worried about this.

Why? Their competitor, Yahoo, has just been killed off. Microsoft will run it into the ground. This is great news if you own Yahoo stock.

[louden]

I have a feeling many good people are going to take stock (no pun intended) and vacate their positions at Microsoft. All this amounts to is Microsoft is unable to creatively create value in the new online world unless it has hooks into Windows.

This is the true legacy of Jim Allchin....

[Cromulent]

That would be a big loss for Zend (makers of PHP).

Zend do not make PHP. PHP is an open source project and was started by one man.

[MrSmith]

... but seriously, who gives a *****? I search with Google because it's built in to Safari. I go to Yahoo because they gave me a free email a/c a long time ago that still has its purposes. Who here has more of a concern than that? It isn't compulsory to have an opinion about it, ya know. Even as a member of MR.

[twoodcc]

wow, i wasn't expecting this. i still don't think they can beat google though

[madmax_2069]

... but seriously, who gives a *****? I search with Google because it's built in to Safari. I go to Yahoo because they gave me a free email a/c a long time ago that still has its purposes. Who here has more of a concern than that? It isn't compulsory to have an opinion about it, ya know. Even as a member of MR.


i am worried and i give a *****, cause my ISP uses Yahoo for their email and other things. Microsoft is just going to screw things up cause they cant make their own service like this go anywhere.

[bentup]

I just hope that they don't mess with flickr. I could careless that they are aquiring Yahoo; just leave flickr as it is.

/agreed

Funny, I just started studying conglomerated media... Big business just keeps getting bigger!

[louden]

Actually, it was AOL that bought Time Warner. Really.

In any case, that was a new media company buying an old media company. Though I'm sure there would still be some bumps in the road, Microsoft and Yahoo! are in enough alignment that it should be a lot smoother than that.

Yep, you're right! I had to go look that up. The value of AOL decreased so drastically, I actually remembered it wrong!

The point that I was trying to make, is there's not that much value in the merger. It's too easy for customers to switch from one of these new services to another. I mean, who uses MySpace anymore, now that Facebook has taken off? I'll bet MySpace never IPOs. I see the same thing happening with any of the services that Yahoo now has. All I see in this is an opportunity for companies like Google to capture fleeing customers from what will be a new bad experience from Microhoo, which will probably tied to IE some way.

I see goodwill write offs of the same magnitude in Microsoft's future. Say 30 billion? Let's bet and check back on this thread in a year or two...



:)

[savar]

Most of Yahoo's infrastructure runs on FreeBSD

They also own Zimbra, which is mostly open source and one of the best competitors to Outlook/Exchange.

Pretty big consequences for this move

Excellent points. I didn't know about Zimbra.

Really don't see the logic for this acquisition. Loss for MS and a loss for society...

Zend do not make PHP. PHP is an open source project and was started by one man.

Maybe "purveyors" is a better word? Zend makes money off of PHP, that much I can say for certain. Obviously as an open source project, they don't make money on every installation, but I'm sure Yahoo is a major client. One of the Yahoo tech presentations talks about their [surprising] choice to use PHP -- and Zend was one of the motivating factors.

[d_and_n5000]

This could serve to be very interesting indeed...

I suppose it would take care of the whole "Yahoo Messenger/Windows Live Messenger" thing...

[Peace]

Is this showing on Mac Rumors because Apple seems to have quite an active relationship with Yahoo?

Would that relationship end?

Yes it would.

This hostile takeover is a strategic move ahead of Google Airwaves possibly winning the 700Mhz auction.

Balmer is simply paranoid.Almost to a dangerous mental degree and the FCC AND the FTC might see a problem with this takeover.

[maxrobertson]

I really hope this doesn't happen... I'd have to dump my Yahoo mail and everything.

[whatever]

Having just read through all seven pages of posts I find it really funny how so many people hate Microsoft so much. Guys they're just a company, I know they're not perfect, but come on.

What's really funny is that many of the same type of comments can be found on the various OpenSource and Linux forums bashing Apple in the same way.

Microsoft is a partner of Apples. I believe they actually took the largest order of PowerMac G5's ever documented.

Yahoo is a partner also, as is Google, IBM, etc....

Just this week I had a heated discussion about Yahoo and how they needed to do something quick, before they became just a footnote in the history of the internet. Yes, things are that bad there. Their CEO is afraid of making any tough decisions (they need to lay off a lot more than a 1,000 employees) and they really don't know how to advance to the next level. This quite common and normally what happens is either they get bought while they still have some value or they got bought later for scraps. If Yahoo waits another year, that's all that will be left, scraps. And what would happen then, all of the those cool, non-profit generating sites that people enjoy will be gone.

There are really only two companies out there that could bail out Yahoo and they're Google (who won't because they don't need anything that Yahoo has) and Microsoft (who needs what they have).

I don't include Apple, because this does not fit into Apple's position of being neutral. If Apple wants to do what Yahoo does they will just create it themselves.

This is a great day for Yahoo, I only hope they don't screw this one up and refuse Microsoft's generous offer.

[Peace]

Yahoo responds :

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/02/01/ms.yahoo.deal.call/

"Microsoft also believes there to be incidental benefits for Yahoo outside of search and advertising, such as advanced research and development for Yahoo's mobile platform as well as its video services."

If Google wins that FCC auction and uses it for video over Wifi/Mobile Microsoft has something to use since the rules state anyone can use their own device in that spectrum.

This is about the future of the mobile wifi platform and Microsoft knows it.

[daze]

Apple - Google merger anyone?

Makes sense to me. Apple-Goo?

[vanmacguy]

this has a lot more implications than just with google, imo.

there are a lot of companies partnered with yahoo for various things. like Apple and the yahoo push to the iphone. or att and yahoo dsl. the list goes on.

if microsoft takes over what happens to these arrangements?

This is the only part of this whole thing that concerns me at all.

Apple has worked hard it seems with Yahoo over the last few years and I can't honestly see that continuing if they become MicroHoo.

It's a no-brainer right now for Yahoo shareholders, a 62% increase over yesterdays closing price? Hell, I'd do it! but there's a long time to go before the deal is supposed to close in Q4 (I believe) so we'll see how sweet the deal is then?

Microsoft has no choice but to try and close the gap between them (or anyone) and Google. It's business. They can't stay that far behind for ever. Shareholders are demanding they catch up somehow.

Everyone here also has to understand that shareholders and people that play the stock market maybe not as tech-savvy as we are. They have no idea that M$ destroys what they buy (Visio, FoxPro, anyone). They don't think of M$ the way we do, this is an Apple forum after all.

I find this very interesting and am enjoying everyone's comments. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all plays out and in seeing what tattered remains of both M$ and Yahoo are left at the end.

Cheers.

[Tadros86]

I really don't know why people are crying over this. I personally hate google and never use it, google maps sucks compared to yahoo maps. And when you search in google and do the same search in yahoo, you come with the same matches. I've been using Yahoo before Google, and I will continue to do so. MS purchasing Yahoo is just business and I doubt it will do anything. It might actually bring Yahoo more money if MS adds to their services and doesn't take away. I dunno why but every time I am on these forms MS is the huge guys that ruin everything, are we forgetting back in 1997 when a company that seemed in the gutter was saved by MS? If you don't know what I am talking about, you are most likely on one of that companies computers if you are on this form. I am not saying I like Vista or anything, but I know a lot of people still have to use MS software to do things, I dunno why we always have to bash them.

[yoyon8]

I seem to recall seeing an article that talked about how microsoft want's to move office/windows to an online (read:subscription) based model. I forgot where I saw this, I'll post the link if I run into it again. But that would be a scary day (the subscription bit). They are part of the way there with the activation stuff...

Please, post the link.

I think you've just hit the nail. Here are some more of Garners predictions.

http://gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=593207

"By 2012, at least one-third of business application software spending will be as service subscription instead of as product license. With software as service (SaaS), the user organisation pays for software services in proportion to use. This is fundamentally different from the fixed-price perpetual license of the traditional on-premises technology. Endorsed and promoted by all leading business applications vendors (Oracle, SAP, Microsoft) and many Web technology leaders (Google, Amazon), the SaaS model of deployment and distribution of software services will enjoy steady growth in mainstream use during the next five years."

http://gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=593207

Many of this predictions make us understand Micro$oft's recent move. And it is not only against Google, but is on Apple to. Their only hope, (M$'s), is to continue to dominate the software industry on subscription basis via navigators and traffic. In other words, online subscription Office will not work on Google or Safari, and very possible malfunction on Macs as is the case of Windows Live (MSN), with no video and poor interface.

Being the case, ¿What are the hopes?

[louden]

This isn't about search, it's about:

Yahoo! Mail

Yahoo! Answers

Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo! Sports (specifically Fantasy Sports)

GeoCities

HotJobs

Flickr

del.icio.us

Those are some nice little brands that have much greater followings than MSN's similar offerings.

The search and advertising is a nice bonus.

You can use search numbers to skew this deal and make it look like it's pointless and leads to no net gain versus Google, but this isn't about search.

You've got a valid way of looking at this merger - and on paper, it may sound good. But you're not doing the qualitative analysis. Microsoft's way of doing business (I know) is slow, cumbersome and overly political. You don't just cruft up stuff and chuck out services in a creative fashion. It's just not in the culture of Microsoft to do that or to do that in an easy enough manner to matter to the public.

I have much more faith in a company like Google, or a small start up - because honestly, they can do it better.

The cost of creating these new services on the web is increasingly getting smaller and smaller and the ability for these companies to create a lasting brand will become more and more difficult. In retrospect, we'll all look back on this and say, "Man, what did they really get for 44 billion?"

Microsoft is lucky that they have Windows and Office and more importantly, they know switching costs to enterprises away from these products is just too high right now...

[louden]

Having just read through all seven pages of posts I find it really funny how so many people hate Microsoft so much. Guys they're just a company, I know they're not perfect, but come on.



I don't hate 'em, I'm just trying to be insightful.

On the plus side - Microsoft has:
- A huge cadre of some of the smartest people in the business
- The best development tools, and the easiest development environment to work with
- A great stack for building and delivering enterprise apps and online services quickly, easily and cheaply...

[theBB]

Does it really matter? What can Microsoft do with Yahoo that they couldn't do with their MSN service?
They can make all of Yahoo services to properly work only with Internet Explorer.

[brewno]

Damn, now Flickr will be Microsoft's. That's not cool. :mad:

[jmarte]

Yahoo...do not resist...you will be assimilated...bzzzrt..oh wait, yahoo just got the BSOD..Thanks Microsoft!!!! :D

[madmax_2069]

They can make all of Yahoo services to properly work only with Internet Explorer.

heh, isn't that what Yahoo just about does now. i remember when a Mac could not use videos or anything, still today their music will not work on a Mac, their IM service sucks on Mac as well.

[bigwig]

$45 billion is money they aren't spending improving Vista. That's good for Apple in my opinion.

[patrick0brien]

My $0.02 is that this is a good thing for everybody.

Primarily that this is great news for the economy. And I'm glad because the news fad now is to doom-and-gloom the economy by yelling all the bad news, while ignoring the good. They can't ignore this.

Hopefully this will lead to healthy companies buying up not-so-healthy ones, and generating much more consolidated engines of productivity.

Love MS or Hate MS, they do provide a lot of productivity to the economy both directly with their products, and indirectly with the cottage-industries of tech support, developers(DEVELOPERS!DEVELOPERS!), et al.

And Yahoo needs the help.

Oh, and the acquisition of Yahoo by MS will tie MS up (hopefully while remaining fiscally healthy) for a while, allowing the Innovators to keep pressing ahead.

[Jason Wong]

Wow sounds like another AOL Time Warner.

[diamond.g]

Please, post the link.

I think you've just hit the nail. Here are some more of Garners predictions.

http://gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=593207

"By 2012, at least one-third of business application software spending will be as service subscription instead of as product license. With software as service (SaaS), the user organisation pays for software services in proportion to use. This is fundamentally different from the fixed-price perpetual license of the traditional on-premises technology. Endorsed and promoted by all leading business applications vendors (Oracle, SAP, Microsoft) and many Web technology leaders (Google, Amazon), the SaaS model of deployment and distribution of software services will enjoy steady growth in mainstream use during the next five years."

http://gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=593207

Many of this predictions make us understand Micro$oft's recent move. And it is not only against Google, but is on Apple to. Their only hope, (M$'s), is to continue to dominate the software industry on subscription basis via navigators and traffic. In other words, online subscription Office will not work on Google or Safari, and very possible malfunction on Macs as is the case of Windows Live (MSN), with no video and poor interface.

Being the case, ¿What are the hopes?

Old PC World Article (http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,104861-page,1/article.html) where MS tried it with Office XP (and quickly recanted).

Here is a Fox news article (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,253707,00.html)with goole doing what MS tried (and by the looks of it successing as well).

And of course, the stuff you found as well.

Also I think Apple should buy yahoo just to screw with MS. That would be funny.

[Unspeaked]

Yep, you're right! I had to go look that up. The value of AOL decreased so drastically, I actually remembered it wrong!

I know what you mean! That was back in the days when Yahoo! was considering purchasing Disney, as well. Internet companies had such large market caps, it was ridiculous...


You've got a valid way of looking at this merger - and on paper, it may sound good. But you're not doing the qualitative analysis. Microsoft's way of doing business (I know) is slow, cumbersome and overly political. You don't just cruft up stuff and chuck out services in a creative fashion. It's just not in the culture of Microsoft to do that or to do that in an easy enough manner to matter to the public.

I totally get what you're saying. Make no mistake, I was not defending the merger; I was simply bringing up another reason Microsoft was interested in Yahoo! outside of the simple search statistics...

[theBB]

heh, isn't that what Yahoo just about does now. i remember when a Mac could not use videos or anything, still today their music will not work on a Mac, their IM service sucks on Mac as well.
Well, yes, but at least Yahoo Mail, MyYahoo (at least, the "classic" one), Yahoo Finance and I guess Flickr works fine on whichever browser I use.

Outside of Office, MS has not done much innovative product development. Visio and MapPoint was really useful and user friendly, but MS bought the original companies. It copies Google Maps (even though they could leverage MapPoint years before Google bought that mapping company) iPod/iTunes and even Windows 95 and now Vista. Has Xbox turned a cumulative profit, yet? Well, at least Xbox provides a strong competitor in video game consoles, instead of killing them off.

[/dev/toaster]

Ya know ... Yahoo just launched its OpenID program. I wonder what will happen to it. I really hope MS doesn't come in and gut it, to bring in their proprietary passport system. (Regardless of what it is called today, its still passport)

Yahoo bringing in OpenID was a good thing for Yahoo and OpenID.

MS can't kill OpenID, that just won't happen. They will make it struggle though.

I used to use hotmail ... *WAY* back before MS bought it. Guess what happened after they bought it ? I left hotmail. This is another strong reason for me to use google only for my searchs.

I don't like MS, I don't like its leaders, I don't like their products, I don't like their reputation, I don't like their bully business tactics, etc.

Just like Yahoo, MS is dying off and becoming irrelevant. Ballmer is going to run MS into the ground, and that makes me happy.

[Prof.]

Microsoft also wants to buy CNBC:eek:

There goes the Apple-Yahoo partnership:(

So if MS buys Yahoo, Yahoo is going to suck, I guess. :P

[roland.g]

Sounds kind of Borg-ish.

[/dev/toaster]

Well, yes, but at least Yahoo Mail, MyYahoo (at least, the "classic" one), Yahoo Finance and I guess Flickr works fine on whichever browser I use.

Outside of Office, MS has not done much innovative product development. Visio and MapPoint was really useful and user friendly, but MS bought the original companies. It copies Google Maps (even though they could leverage MapPoint years before Google bought that mapping company) iPod/iTunes and even Windows 95 and now Vista. Has Xbox turned a cumulative profit, yet? Well, at least Xbox provides a strong competitor in video game consoles, instead of killing them off.

MS has never been innovators really. They buy up tech companies and rebrand their products. Hell even from day 1, they just bought DOS from someone, rebranded it and sold it to IBM.

[scrambledwonder]

NO! *smacks Microsoft on the hand* Monopoly bad! Now go to your room and think about what you've done.

[GQB]

Maybe you haven't been paying attention, but Yahoo! is already on that slide. This buyout is actually a GOOD THING for YHOO investors. Yada yada ... Microsoft sucks, etc.

If I had been fortunate enough to have Yahoo stock, I'd...
1) be VERY happy
2) have cashed out by 9:00 this morning.

[GQB]

My dashboard is telling me that Yahoo! is up 96%

Better get a new dashboard... it hasn't been up more than 46% all day.
('only' :) )

[Peace]

Better get a new dashboard... it hasn't been up more than 46% all day.
('only' :) )

It's up 80.94% right now.

I might add I used the Yahoo widget on my iPhone for that stat. Something that will be gone soon.

[GQB]

Makes sense to me. Apple-Goo?

'Goople'

[jordo]

Ugh...M$ up to it's old tricks again. How about taking that $44B and building an XBOX 360 that doesn't break? Or put it into better virus fighting programs for Windows? Or make the Zune a little less unhip. :rolleyes:

Like others, it is time to find a new e-mail provider. I guess I may give .mac a shot.

Yeah, M$ also needs to invest some money in their XBOX live "service" so it doesn't crash everyday. I was at Target last week and the XBOX 360 on display had the red ring of death! I don't know about you, but that makes me want to buy one. .Mac is also the way to go for email imo.

This merger looks like an act out of desperation on Microsoft's behalf if you ask me. They're not doing anything worth blinking at compared to Apple OR Google, and they've been playing innovation catch up for as long as I can remember. I'm pretty sure if Apple bought a fast food chain, say Subawy, for some incredible reason that only Jobs can devise, Microsoft would blindly buy/ruin the Quiznos chain and make it suck as much as possible.

[GQB]

I don't hate 'em, I'm just trying to be insightful.

On the plus side - Microsoft has:

- The best development tools, and the easiest development environment to work with


Ergo the easiest malware environment to work with as well, i.e. the very crux of their problem.

[stoutboy1]

they must have a grip of spending cash on hand. I wonder how large their warchest really is.

[decadentdave]

If Bill Gates wants to spend 44 billion on a search engine, let him blow his wad. Biggest waste of money ever.

[bluefido]

One more reason why I'll continue to Google

Google is in many ways the new Microsoft. Why anyone random third party sides with any company is a bit odd. I like Apple products, but I don't worship them. Steve Jobs is a pimp just like Bill Gates was. They are just trying to sell as many products and make as much money as possible for their shareholders, which is frankly what they are supposed to do.

[GQB]

It's up 80.94% right now.

I might add I used the Yahoo widget on my iPhone for that stat. Something that will be gone soon.

hmmm...
Started day at 19, currently at ~29 = increase of 10.
Sounds like ~50% increase to me, but what do I care... I don't own any. :)

[GQB]

Is this going to be subject to any FCC or FTC scrutiny, especially given that MS is still under observation from the anti-trust decisions?

[eastcoastsurfer]

It's up 80.94% right now.

I might add I used the Yahoo widget on my iPhone for that stat. Something that will be gone soon.

I think you mean $8, not 80%.

[jpine]

YA-WHO?

Personally, I stopped using YAHOO when they started stinking and Google came along. Google's search engine is much better, their GMAIL product is superb. I have not found anything useful with YAHOO in years. The fact that Microsoft is bidding to take them over just puts Bills Gates statement into further motion, where he wants to transform the web and do away with HTML and come up with his own web language as a standard that only Microsoft IE can read.

I still say the future will be Apple and Google.

I started boycotting Y! when their activities with mainland China landed a few folks in jail.[

[decadentdave]

Steve Jobs is a pimp just like Bill Gates was. They are just trying to sell as many products and make as much money as possible for their shareholders, which is frankly what they are supposed to do.

Exactly. They are both in the business of making money. I like Apple's products and services better. Microsoft, on the other hand, just likes to peddle crap.

[hulugu]

I just hope that they don't mess with flickr. I could careless that they are aquiring Yahoo; just leave flickr as it is.

They eliminate a competitor. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm worried that they will start changing Yahoo's services to become Mac-incompatible. I'd really hate to have to give up my Yahoo mailbox and re-host my two mailing lists to a different server.

Embrace, extend and extinguish.

This was my first thought as well. I'm sure some MS technology (crap) will be filtered into Flickr and ultimately make it less useful. It will start with a new Flickr Uploader for Vista-only and a requirement for Silverlight and then slowly MS will strangle Flickr for Mac users. I just don't trust them to leave well-enough alone.

[Peace]

I think you mean $8, not 80%.


Here's what the Yahoo stock widget says on the iPhone :

[Cinch]

I wonder which deal is/will be the most foolish: Time Warner paying $60 bln for AOL or MSFT paying $44 bln for Yahoo?

I smell a financial hack who has little knowledge of technology is behind this potential deal.


My advice, Jerry take the money and run out of burning building!

Cinch

[dannychang]

Microsoft Sucks and Yahoo Sucks.

So....whut's the matter?

[qtip919]

Ergo the easiest malware environment to work with as well, i.e. the very crux of their problem.

sound reasoning genius - the easist malware environment = the largest possible attack volume

people who write malware do so to affect the largest user base possible. I could easily write malware for linux and/or apple all day if I wanted to - except for I would first need to become a real rat.

malware is made possible by allowing for an open and easy development platform - which has always been microsoft's goal.

now on the flipside, you have apple, who has been bullied by their own users to create a dev environment for the iphone. Get ready for mobile iMalware like youve never dreamed of - in the hacker community, they are salivating over this potential

[Ja Di ksw]

Yahoo? People still use that? I could have sworn the 90's were over.

[tgildred]

Yeah, right. Gates didn't get where is by cutting checks.

"Buy him out boys!"

[qtip919]

Exactly. They are both in the business of making money. I like Apple's products and services better. Microsoft, on the other hand, just likes to peddle crap.

Nice argument...

you also have such an eloquent way with words...

I HATE M$ BLAHHHH! each time they make a business move, I say "Microsoft sucks!"

wow

go get ripped off with your iphone and download some rental movies in SD quality which cant be used on your ipod

killer - no broken scenarios here!

[morespce54]

Nooooooooooo!

I use Yahoo Mail since 1998... Actually, since I stopped using Hotmail!

I just can't loose my webmail... :(

[carlgo]

Doesn't the term "hostile takeover" sound ominous?

If this merger happens it could set off a whole bunch of mergers/alliances to counter MS.

This could alarm governments around the world enough that this takeover could be thwarted and at the least cost so much in time and legal fees that it would hurt both parties terribly.

But, a lot of merger talk will make tech stock prices go up.

[chr1s60]

NOOOO!!!!! I am a fan of Yahoo! and I know MS will only ruin it!!

[GQB]

sound reasoning genius - the easist malware environment = the largest possible attack volume


How polite of you.
I didn't know people were still pulling the old "most attacks because most popular" song.
MS OS is attacked most because it is the sloppiest written, plain and simple.
It allows (encourages) sloppy security practices by (yes) its enormous installed base, resulting in a security swamp that may never be drained.
And I doubt you could write an effective OSX virus or worm if your life depended on it.

[surferfromuk]

why do people hate MSFT so much.
i think this is a good move. YHOO has been doing very bad in recent years. and they show no signs of improving. therefore they should accept the generous offer from MSFT.

Microsoft is like having one company making 90% of the worlds food - and worse - it's junk food.

Not content with all the 'food' they now want all the 'drink'....

You tell us when will 'enough' be too much for you ?

[morespce54]

...3 Yahoo! Messenger. That would go. At least the client would. No need to 2 messaging protocols. No need for 2 clients.

Maybe then, they will finally have a decent version of MSN for Mac (webcam, photo ID, etc.)? :rolleyes:

I think they have the same app for Mac since 1998 but with a more "2000ish" look...;)

[vansouza]

I remember when IBM bought out Lotus and MS said that was good news as IBM would tank Lotus thereby helping MS Office. Now I think the same think MS is going to purchase Yahoo and tank it. It would make more sense for Yahoo to purchase MS; but they can't can they. MS needs the change in mentality not Yahoo.

Power to Google; I will move my Yahoo mail entirely to Google if the sale goes through.

[gkarris]

Next "hostile" purchase:

AT&T

Hey, the want to get more into the mobile business too!

Ballmer would like to invite all AT&T iPhone users in (as it won't work on MS-AT&T anymore) to trade their phones in for a free Windows Mobile phone (and extend your contract another 2 years).

Enjoy... :eek:

[tuneman07]

I would be surprised if this really happened- it just seems sooooo stupid. This is like someone buying Burger King because they want to take over McDonalds. Google has become integrated into society, it is a verb now- its the same as when McDonalds became fast food, and Coca Cola became pop, Google has become internet searching.
More and more it seems like whoever is making decisions at Microsoft is doing so with an attitude of "If Microsoft is doing it, it has to work". They are overestimating themselves if they think they can throw billions at Yahoo and even come close to what Google has done.
The main killer for this is the fact that it is so easy to use Google no matter what- you can't exclude Google, or force Yahoo on people by integrating it with Windows. I'm sure Yahoo use will increase if its bundled with Windows but people won't have to use it.

[shen]

"I imagine if MS buys them up, my guess is that they will convert the whole site to AS or .net or whatever it is they push now."

and they will also run on windows machines rather than BSD boxes and the whole thing will run like crap.

the good news is in order to make it work at a reasonable speed it will mean buying millions of new machines. ;)

[guzhogi]

We all know Steve "Monkeyboy" Ballmer (M$'s CEO) hates Google. Maybe this is his way to spite Google. Not sure how well it'll work though…

[elppa]

The other interesting aspect is that Yahoo is the biggest site in the world (I think -- no citation offered) to use PHP....

Facebook?

[janstett]

Microsoft will never hit it big in the search engine market. They're way too late, and plus, "Google" has already made it into the dictionary as a verb. Nearly everyone uses it. They won't be able to monopolize this industry just by setting Windows Live as the default search provider, either. People are smart now. They know how to get to Google. :)

I worked for C|Net from 1997-1999. At the time, Google was famous for its search engine, and not www.google.com, it didn't exist as it does today. They were famous for writing the best search engine, and this search engine was used by other sites. I think Yahoo even, at one point, used Google's search engine.

When they launched their own consumer site, I scoffed. Everybody already knows Yahoo, after all. When they went public, I also scoffed, as they missed the initial IPO waves of the internet boom and were pretty late to go public.

Yeah, my predictions worked out well.

Moral: Things can change overnight. There was a time when Yahoo ruled the roost and Google was a big underdog late to the party. But they won because their results were better and the site design, then as now, was simple and easy to read. Need another example? How about Netscape? They were the poster child for the internet boom.

MSN was launched at the same time as Windows 95, intended to be a built-in equivalent to AOL. I remember the "Chicago" betas with MSN service didn't even have a browser yet, you navigated MSN through a folder metaphor like Finder or Explorer. By the time Windows 95 was ready for launch, the revolution happened and they had to come up with the first Internet Explorer and redo MSN from scratch. I think it's been redone several times since then.

Microsoft correctly perceives Google as a threat. It also sees how Google is making money, but turning MSN Live Search into a winner is hard. Just flat out buying Yahoo helps them consolidate the #2 spot. And IMO Yahoo is doing a slow fade anyway.

[jaw04005]

Just more proof that Microsoft has lost all vision as a company.

[decadentdave]

Nice argument...

you also have such an eloquent way with words...

I HATE M$ BLAHHHH! each time they make a business move, I say "Microsoft sucks!"

wow

go get ripped off with your iphone and download some rental movies in SD quality which cant be used on your ipod

killer - no broken scenarios here!

Because we all know that Microsoft can only dilute the market by peddling HD-DVD movies and drag on the format war which has been decisively won by Blu-Ray.

[Quillz]

M$ buys Yahoo! and turns it into something crap. MSN Search anyone?:rolleyes:
I think MSN Search is better than Google, actually.

[BRLawyer]

Does it really matter? What can Microsoft do with Yahoo that they couldn't do with their MSN service?

I can't really see this being good for Microsoft, really. If they're trying to compete with Google, I guess it may help, but is it worth $45 billion?


And this really should be in the Current Events forum. Not all news belongs here just because the Community forum gets more traffic.

MS is CRAP, Yahoo is CRAP, full stop. I actually hope MS goes on and pays that ridiculous amount of cash in order to accelerate its demise in the IT market...they will gain nothing from it and will just keep on floundering...MS is DEAD.

[Pandaboots]

yawn..yahoo is so 1999. Anyway, why is this front page Apple news? Has anyone seen who is running M$? This guy is a joke and extremely anti-Apple. Microsoft is dead....

[eric55lv]

Microsoft just wants attention so I guess thats why they want Yahoo!

[mahashel]

BAH!
12 years ago I decided to "see what the fuss was about" regarding the internet and email. I opened a Netscape webmail account.
AOL bought Netscape a couple years back and now I can only check my email using Internet Explorer.
I bailed... to Yahoo!
Now Microsoft (MSN) wants to buy Yahoo!
I'm bailing.. to Google (GMail)

FYI: if anyone else is jumping ship and wants to get your messages out of Yahoo Mail without paying to enable Yahoo POP service, there's a nifty little open-source tool YPOPS! that will grab Yahoo mail messages out of your account and allow a POP client (ie: MAIL or Thunderbird) to import them.
http://ypopsemail.com/

[N10248]

I only use yahoo mail because it works with Apple mail app, and its web interface works with safari.

i dont use msn / windows live as it does not work with mail and is barely usable on safari.

Plus the only search term i've ever put into windows live search is "Google", when using some sad vista users system.

i hope that mic-poo-soft doesn't change yahoo, else google gets another user.

[JesterJJZ]

Yuck...:(

[whatever]

Yahoo responds :

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/02/01/ms.yahoo.deal.call/

"Microsoft also believes there to be incidental benefits for Yahoo outside of search and advertising, such as advanced research and development for Yahoo's mobile platform as well as its video services."

If Google wins that FCC auction and uses it for video over Wifi/Mobile Microsoft has something to use since the rules state anyone can use their own device in that spectrum.

This is about the future of the mobile wifi platform and Microsoft knows it.
What are you babbling about? If Google wins (which they won't, nor do they really want to since all they wanted to do by joining the auction in the first place was to have rule stating that any device can use the spectrum put in place), a startup with no money could create a device and make it available.

Yahoo's mobile platform pales in comparison to what Microsoft always has. In fact no one comes close to what Microsoft currently offers (including Apple).

Also Microsoft's strategy in the market is set. They don't want to deliver a device, but have their technology on as many devices as possible.

[Unspeaked]

So I did a little research and found the following companies in Microsoft's price range, each of which I think would be far better purchases than Yahoo!:

Research in Motion (53 billion; Plus: They could dump Windows mobile and actually be the market leader. Also, they could say they manufacture a product that works... pretty well! Minus: Apple is moving into the market aggressively.)

Nike (31 billion; Plus: They could end the Nike + iPod deal. Also, LeBron James could promote Vista. Also, they could file suit against the MacBook Air. Minus: Possible sweatshop related protests.)

Mastercard (28 billion; Plus: Who better to align themselves with consumer credit than Microsoft? Minus: What could be worse for consumers than Microsoft aligning themselves with credit cards?)

Anheuser Busch (35 billion; Plus: Steve Ballmer could have an excuse the next time he goes bat-****** crazy at a keynote - he was helping out the quality assurance department! Minus: They'd somehow manage to produce even worse, watered down beer than Bud currently does...)

eBay (37 billion; Plus: They've have the ideal platform with which to dump all those unsold Zunes they have piling up in their distribution channels. Minus: They'd ruthlessly milk the heart and soul of their operations - the sellers - for every last penny in listing and final value fees, and then take another cut processing transactions via PayPal. Oh, wait a minute... eBay does that already. Nevermind.)

[Unspeaked]

I would be surprised if this really happened- it just seems sooooo stupid. This is like someone buying Burger King because they want to take over McDonalds. Google has become integrated into society, it is a verb now- its the same as when McDonalds became fast food, and Coca Cola became pop, Google has become internet searching.
More and more it seems like whoever is making decisions at Microsoft is doing so with an attitude of "If Microsoft is doing it, it has to work". They are overestimating themselves if they think they can throw billions at Yahoo and even come close to what Google has done.
The main killer for this is the fact that it is so easy to use Google no matter what- you can't exclude Google, or force Yahoo on people by integrating it with Windows. I'm sure Yahoo use will increase if its bundled with Windows but people won't have to use it.

So you're saying if your goal was to be the number one fast food chain, it would be easier to start from scratch competing against McDonalds than to buy the number two chain in the market? Yeah, that makes sense...

Also, Pepsi leads Coca Cola in many markets, and has even outsold Coke in the US from time to time. So no, Coca Cola and Google are not immovable forces.

[someone28624]

Yahoo sucks, but MSN sucks more. MSN search results aren't nearly as good as Google. So we're basically just plunging into a cooperative suckage.

As long as they don't touch Google, we're good.

I will miss Flickr as it is now though.

[Peace]

What are you babbling about? If Google wins (which they won't, nor do they really want to since all they wanted to do by joining the auction in the first place was to have rule stating that any device can use the spectrum put in place), a startup with no money could create a device and make it available.

Yahoo's mobile platform pales in comparison to what Microsoft always has. In fact no one comes close to what Microsoft currently offers (including Apple).

Also Microsoft's strategy in the market is set. They don't want to deliver a device, but have their technology on as many devices as possible.


This is why Google Airwaves has upped their bid 5 times now ?

17 $4,713,823,000
Google Airwaves Inc.
SUBMITTED

*
13 $4,294,397,000
Google Airwaves Inc.
SUBMITTED

*
12 $3,784,943,000
Google Airwaves Inc.
SUBMITTED

*
10 $3,379,984,000
Google Airwaves Inc.
SUBMITTED

*
8 $2,976,465,000
Google Airwaves Inc.
SUBMITTED

*


They hit the open access rule when they bid 4.2B in round 13

Google upped it to 4.7B in round 17
And they are the highest bidder so far.

[FX120]

I love the hipocracy expressed by so many users here.

"I hate Microsoft because they are a big giant monopoly that has too much power in the OS market, and based on this I will refuse to use their web based services and instead use the web services of Google, which is not an evil company..."

Google in many ways has become worse than Microsoft. Many of their products have "evolved" out of the purchase of many other smaller companies. Prime example: Google Earth, which prior to being purchased by Google (for the map data) was actually a product by Keystone. If Microsoft had made this same purchase they would have been slammed by nearly everyone here. Same case with YouTube. Google couldn't deal with competing against YouTube so they just bought them. Google's dominance in the web search market is in many ways comparable to Microsoft's dominance in the OS market. It's not the best search on the market with the best features, it's just the one that everyone uses and probably will continue to use, which is arguably the same case with Windows.

[qtip919]

Because we all know that Microsoft can only dilute the market by peddling HD-DVD movies and drag on the format war which has been decisively won by Blu-Ray.


?!?!?!?!?!?!

I think you have a tremendously mistaken notion of what is going on in the format war...

I can tell you two things:

1. Microsoft would like to see anything that is part of Sony's strategy fail
2. Microsoft is interested in formats becoming a non-issue - Its CORE to the services strategy

that being said, trust me - putting any confidence in a format which has been positioned by Sony is foolish.

UMD, MiniDisc...great technologies which are made to SUCK by Sony's inept marketing and engineering teams

and we all know that local media storage is the wave of the future.

To pin this on Microsoft means you read the 1st sentence of every peice of crap reporting you come across and spend no time investigating facts

[rish]

This is a perfect example of an organisation not being able to innovate. Day in day out MS is losing ground on almost every sector of their business market.

The days of being able to get a real angle by making a purchase like this are over. People are not stupid and quite rightly as most of you have pointed out, consumers will work around any potential bundles within MS and continue to use Google. I've never liked Yahooh search, never interested in having an email account with them, nada. MS well never liked anything they did really, just a big bully in the Tech Business and this hostile aquisition is them through and through. With MS you can see them coming a mile away with their so called strategy to innovate (something they have not done in a very very very long time). The king is dead long live the king (Gates if your wondering), and now lets replace him with a bafoon, ah Ballmer will do. Yikes what a t...t! This ship is sinking and it is only big news due to the numbers $40+billion. At that price this it is clear that they'll be carrying a hefty burden to try an make this work. This seemed to me like more of a desperate aquisiiton rather than one that actually made any real business sense.

However over the next few years we'll see this once Tech giant head in the direction of the Dodo.

[Unspeaked]

I love the irony expressed by so many users here.

"I hate Microsoft because they are a big giant monopoly that has too much power in the OS market, and based on this I will refuse to use their web based services and instead use the web services of Google, which is not an evil company..."

Google in many ways has become worse than Microsoft. Many of their products have "evolved" out of the purchase of many other smaller companies. Prime example: Google Earth, which prior to being purchased by Google (for the map data) was actually a product by Keystone. If Microsoft had made this same purchase they would have been slammed by nearly everyone here. Same case with YouTube. Google couldn't deal with competing against YouTube so they just bought them. Google's dominance in the web search market is in many ways comparable to Microsoft's dominance in the OS market. It's not the best search on the market with the best features, it's just the one that everyone uses and probably will continue to use, which is arguably the same case with Windows.

In Google's defense, they generally make the products they buy better or at the very least leave them untouched.

Microsoft has a history of dismantling past purchases or totally running them into the ground.

[qtip919]

How polite of you.
I didn't know people were still pulling the old "most attacks because most popular" song.
MS OS is attacked most because it is the sloppiest written, plain and simple.
It allows (encourages) sloppy security practices by (yes) its enormous installed base, resulting in a security swamp that may never be drained.
And I doubt you could write an effective OSX virus or worm if your life depended on it.

oooo - ouch...you got me...you're smater than me, and my kid could beat you up

yes, and I love dredging up old arguments to hear a true coding master like yourself pull the ol' "I know Microsoft's code is sloppy despite the fact that I have never actually seen any of the OS code"

I would be willing to wager my entire outstanding student loan for my MS in CS that you pulled that argument from the repeating pattern that occurs every time this tired argument gets re-done

lets end it here since we know where you're going next

[diamond.g]

MS is CRAP, Yahoo is CRAP, full stop. I actually hope MS goes on and pays that ridiculous amount of cash in order to accelerate its demise in the IT market...they will gain nothing from it and will just keep on floundering...MS is DEAD.

Honest question, how is a company that has a market cap ~2x as big as Apple and makes more money than Apple dead?

[qtip919]

This is a perfect example of an organisation not being able to innovate. Day in day out MS is losing ground on almost every sector of their business market.

The days of being able to get a real angle by making a purchase like this are over. People are not stupid and quite rightly as most of you have pointed out, consumers will work around any potential bundles within MS and continue to use Google. I've never liked Yahooh search, never interested in having an email account with them, nada. MS well never liked anything they did really, just a big bully in the Tech Business and this hostile aquisition is them through and through. With MS you can see them coming a mile away with their so called strategy to innovate (something they have not done in a very very very long time). The king is dead long live the king (Gates if your wondering), and now lets replace him with a bafoon, ah Ballmer will do. Yikes what a t...t! This ship is sinking and it is only big news due to the numbers $40+billion. At that price this it is clear that they'll be carrying a hefty burden to try an make this work. This seemed to me like more of a desperate aquisiiton rather than one that actually made any real business sense.

However over the next few years we'll see this once Tech giant head in the direction of the Dodo.

This is such a gross exagerration its not even funny

Do you know where Windows Mobile (which sucks) was 5 years ago? DO you know where it is now? IN THE BUSINESS SPACE

Do you know the adoption rate for Exchange server? Its insane...

do you know the adoption rate for Windows server? Its even more insane

Believe me, if Apple could just catch a clue and put out a true competing server product, your comments could actually make sense

Neither google or Apple for that matter can truly compete right now in the server world, where all the real money is...

now excuse me while I go make love to my ipod

[qtip919]

Honest question, how is a company that has a market cap ~2x as big as Apple and makes more money than Apple dead?

oh, its just dead because he says so...

seriously, when the MS bashing begins around here, the sign on the door reads:

Please check your brains at the door and begin spouting your fanatical devotion to Apple which has no desire to bleed you dry of every penny you have...

[kuwisdelu]

Honest question, how is a company that has a market cap ~2x as big as Apple and makes more money than Apple dead?

I certainly wouldn't say MS is dead, but considering that MS makes ~2x as much as Apple with ~10x the market share as far as computing goes makes Apple pretty impressive...which in the end could be bad news for MS down the road as more and more people get into Apple products through the iPhone, iPod, etc.

[elgruga]

Honest question, how is a company that has a market cap ~2x as big as Apple and makes more money than Apple dead?

Because they are stupid.
'Dead' is a euphemism for stupid and stupid eventually fails.

Apple made a lot more profit per dollar of revenue and their growth is far in excess of M$.

M$ is a failing company - buying Yahoo will only hasten their demise.

If Yahoo is worth $44 billion and have 12% of the search business, then Microsoft are overvaluing Yahoo.
Google is worth $165 billion market cap, and have 77% - that makes Yahoo worth about $25 billion.

Ballmer is paying too much, but he isnt too bright.
Could you spend $44 billion on MSN search and improve it?
Duh.

M$ are a decade late to this game - and buying Yahoo, which has been in decline for some time, will not work.

It doesnt matter - Micro$h*t only know how to destroy. They can NOT create.

Advice:

Buy Google.
Sell Yahoo (NOW!)
Sell Micro$h*t.
Buy Apple.

[BRLawyer]

Honest question, how is a company that has a market cap ~2x as big as Apple and makes more money than Apple dead?

Yep, I also remember when people used to say Apple was irrelevant compared to MS...including its market cap, which will surpass MS's in less that 5 years...they are losing ground everywhere, even they still think they are doing ok...XBox is a drain, Vista sucks big time (a failure hidden only by OEM sales) and all other new ventures by MS can't even touch Google's or Apple's domination of digital media/phone/search businesses.

Once more, MS is a moribund elephant...just a few years and they are history with Ballmer Chimp at the helm.

[Flynntoo]

I can see .mac looking better all the time

[diamond.g]

Yep, I also remember when people used to say Apple was irrelevant compared to MS...including its market cap, which will surpass MS's in less that 5 years...they are losing ground everywhere, even they still think they are doing ok...XBox is a drain, Vista sucks big time (a failure hidden only by OEM sales) and all other new ventures by MS can't even touch Google's or Apple's domination of digital media/phone/search businesses.

Once more, MS is a moribund elephant...just a few years and they are history with Ballmer Chimp at the helm.

Ah, okay. Fair enough.

I still think Apple should put up a higher bid... Stealth buy Yahoo from MS, that would be funny.

[pellucidity]

I'm not going to be happy dropping flickr, but what can you do?

[mr.666]

update to my ealier post- just got my first gmail account :)

are there any other FREE email accounts that dont run on MS bsed systems?
i'm sure as said before... Yahoo's freeBSD based world will be no more.

[pooryou]

Personally I don't see how Yahoo! could get any worse.
I gave up on them a long time ago when they started using popup ads.

[Lord Sam]

Oh No! I hope that doesn't happen! That could totally reposition Microsoft in the search field. And destroy Apple's dominance through it's partnership with Google. Uh-Oh.

[whatever]

I can see .mac looking better all the time

I honestly agree with you there.

I switched all of my personal e-mail accounts over to .Mac when it first became available, although I had e-mail accounts on my ISP and through the years my ISPs changed (either I moved or the cable companies were sold (went from AT&T to Comcast and then another went from Adephia to Comcast) my e-mail always stayed the same. .Mac allows you multiple aliases, more than enough storage, a web interface and so much more.

Instead of worrying about Flicker, I post my pictures onto .Mac by clicking a button in iPhoto.

So, it might cost $99 a year, but it's stable and I know that it will be there tomorrow.

As far as MS buying Yahoo, if this deal doesn't go, then expect to see Yahoo to slowly disappear. I wouldn't be surprised if they sell Flicker to Google and then it just goes away. I think MS reason for this is more about preventing Google from being the only player in town. This isn't the first time they bailed out a mismanaged company, remember a few years ago when they invested in that computer company in California. What was there name? Oh yeah, Apple. If they didn't do that, I wouldn't be surprised if the Apple we all love and love to hate wouldn't be what it is today.

[vansouza]

I love the hipocracy expressed by so many users here.

"I hate Microsoft because they are a big giant monopoly that has too much power in the OS market, and based on this I will refuse to use their web based services and instead use the web services of Google, which is not an evil company..."

Google in many ways has become worse than Microsoft. Many of their products have "evolved" out of the purchase of many other smaller companies. Prime example: Google Earth, which prior to being purchased by Google (for the map data) was actually a product by Keystone. If Microsoft had made this same purchase they would have been slammed by nearly everyone here. Same case with YouTube. Google couldn't deal with competing against YouTube so they just bought them. Google's dominance in the web search market is in many ways comparable to Microsoft's dominance in the OS market. It's not the best search on the market with the best features, it's just the one that everyone uses and probably will continue to use, which is arguably the same case with Windows.

Get some perspective... please!!

[seashellz2]

Heres something that suggests MS has gone SENILE:
---
http://www.urbansurvival.com/week.htm

Hey Big Spender Department
Microsoft is going after Yahoo in a $44.6 billion dollar surprise offer. While I don't offer investment advice (although I do some personal consulting) I'd just look at what Yahoo Finance reports for Yahoo's trailing twelve month revenues: $6.84 billion.

I guess the reason I'm not advising Microsoft in this deal is that to my eyes, it looks - choose your favorite term here - crazy, or loco, or just plain
meshugge:

http://dictionary.die.net/meshugge

[happydude]

slow news day, eh? rather than talking apple, so many people are just brainlessly bashing windows for the sake of bashing windows. how about 10.5.2 or updated macbook pros, or ACD's, or the fate of the mac mini, or the iPhone SDK, or . . .

[robanga]

It's not like MS is doing bad financially (see recent quarterly report) and this certainly would be strategic for them, if they could execute the aquisition well. Yahoo has its good points IMHO, although Google is where about 3/4 of my searching is done.

When you look at the threat that Google presents to Microsoft (computing from the cloud, open source applications etc), I would have been suprised if MS did not make a run at Yahoo. Google is going to me making a run at the Windows Mobile market as well, when WM was making some nice marketshare gains in the year preceding the release of the iPhone.

It's sure looking interesting out there :)

[mikes63737]

Oh god I hope this doesn't happen. Yahoo has some nice services (flickr, etc) but I bet they'll be ruined somehow by Microsoft. There'll definitely be a lot more ads and awful product names.

I bet that the Yahoo option will be removed from the "Default Search Engine" setting on iPhone 1.1.4. :p

[shen]

"Microsoft correctly perceives Google as a threat. It also sees how Google is making money, but turning MSN Live Search into a winner is hard."

do you know why turning MSN search into a winner is hard?

the first letter, the "M", stands for microsoft...... :D

[Shaun.P]

Wouldn't it be amazing if Google started bidding on Yahoo too? :P. If Google acquired Yahoo - where would that leave Microsoft? :P.

Out of curiosity, how much cash does Google and Microsoft have free?
How are Microsoft going to finance this? I'm assuming Microsoft doesn't have $45 billion spare cash - do they simply take loans to pay off Yahoo?

[powermac_daddy]

Microsoft should get Apple.

This is what I wanna see. again!

Microsoft should buy Apple, inc.

[Shaun.P]

Microsoft should get Apple.

This is what I wanna see. again!

Microsoft should buy Apple, inc.


Again? Are you implying this happened before? Please don't tell me you're one of those people who believe that when Microsoft invested $150 million in Apple in 1997 that they in anyway 'owned' or 'saved' the company?!

[Peace]

The day M$ buys Apple is the day I kill myself.
:rolleyes:

[BRLawyer]

The day M$ buys Apple is the day I kill myself.
:rolleyes:

These days it's easier to see Apple BUYING MS than the contrary...MS is a sinking boat and not even rats wanna live in it.

[jayducharme]

eBay (37 billion; Plus: They've have the ideal platform with which to dump all those unsold Zunes they have piling up in their distribution channels. Minus: They'd ruthlessly milk the heart and soul of their operations - the sellers - for every last penny in listing and final value fees, and then take another cut processing transactions via PayPal. Oh, wait a minute... eBay does that already. Nevermind.)

I was wondering about this. I thought Yahoo and ebay had worked out a profit-sharing partnership back in 2006. Did that finally dissolve, or will MS now have its hands in ebay and PayPal as well?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052500505.html