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

[MikeTheC]

I think that if Apple and Google were ever to merge, the judge in the FTC case should require Apple to spell Google with one google of "o"s in it for all web- and printed materials featuring their name.

That should slow them down a little bit!

 

[eric55lv]

I think that if Apple and Google were ever to merge, the judge in the FTC case should require Apple to spell Google with one google of "o"s in it for all web- and printed materials featuring their name.

it sounds like a cearl Apple O's

 

[seedster2]

The point of business is to make money, right? Well Microsoft's profits makes Apple's profits look pathetic. Add that to the fact that Microsoft is growing more rapidly as Apple. Do you people understand that? Microsoft is not the stagnant market laggard like you all were brainwashed to believe once you joined the cult of mac. Their profits rose 79% this quarter. That is more than Apple. Apple's profits rose 50%. Microsoft is much larger, they are growing faster, it is ridiculous how good of a company Microsoft really is.

Are you seriously trying to argue that Microsoft is somehow a loser and Apple and Google are somehow winners because of STOCK charts?!

Agreed.

I love Apple products and I am happy using MS products as well (XP works great in my corporate environment and Outlook and Excel are reliable and robust).

I don't see how everyone questions Balmer's leadership when the company's exceeding forecasts despite a disappointing OS introduction. I think they both do specific things better than the other.

 

[MikeTheC]

I don't see how everyone questions Balmer's leadership when the company's exceeding forecasts despite a disappointing OS introduction. I think they both do specific things better than the other.

Yep, you're spot-on about this.

Apple does the creative, innovative stuff better.

Microsoft does the bloated, crappy software and monopolistic practices better.

😱

 

[Agathon]

Let's not be bloody idiots here. As much as I love Apple's products and the company in general, the consumers (that would be us) really bug me sometimes. Their rampant fanboyism and Microsoft bashing is not only pathetic, it's misplaced.

Apple's profit last quarter: $1.58 billion
Microsoft's profit last quarter: $4.71 billion

If Microsoft is a loser, Apple must be bankrupt.

Microsoft is a loser because, for the most part, they make third rate products.

The reason Microsoft makes money is that it has a virtual monopoly on both desktop operating systems and office productivity apps. Both of these products suck, but users are compelled to stick with them because of network externalities.

That's it. Take those away and the company is basically a series of failures. They cannot compete on a level playing field. Does anyone honestly think that Windows Vista would be worth what MS is asking for it if Windows had 20% market share? They are finding Vista a hard sell now. If the monopoly didn't exist, they wouldn't be able to give it away.

People hate Microsoft because ordinary users pay the cost of their monopoly by having to use their third rate products or by having to take account of their useless "standards".

None of this is Apple or OSS fanboyism. It has to do with Microsoft's monopoly and the refusal of regulators to do something about it.

Make no mistake. Microsoft is nowhere near as strong as it looks. If their monopoly is broken, the decline will be extremely swift.

 

[snipersix]

^^^ I totally agree on that one!!

 

[amacisbetter]

Are you kidding?!

I just hope that Microsoft doesn't change the way Yahoo! is right now. I like the style of their services. If Microsoft changes it to a Microsoft style it would suck. Well actually... It would probably have an Apple look and feel! 🙂

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

Microsoft is a loser because, for the most part, they make third rate products.

Not really.

The reason Microsoft makes money is that it has a virtual monopoly on both desktop operating systems and office productivity apps. Both of these products suck, but users are compelled to stick with them because of network externalities.

Last I remembered we are all using Mac OSX. That makes Microsoft NOT a monopoly. And yet, they are doing better than Apple, by a longshot.

That's it. Take those away and the company is basically a series of failures. They cannot compete on a level playing field.

Take away their best products, and they're a failure. Woo hoo, you really are the sleuth!

If the monopoly didn't exist, they wouldn't be able to give it away.

Get over it.

Make no mistake. Microsoft is nowhere near as strong as it looks. If their monopoly is broken, the decline will be extremely swift.

I'm not making a mistake, you are. Microsoft has 3 times the profit, and is growing faster than Apple.




And people, I'm a fervent Apple supporter, I don't use Windows or anything, but that bias is getting ridiculous from the Apple community. Face it, Microsoft is a well-managed, money-making machine.

 

[gifford]

Let's not be bloody idiots here. As much as I love Apple's products and the company in general, the consumers (that would be us) really bug me sometimes. Their rampant fanboyism and Microsoft bashing is not only pathetic, it's misplaced.

Apple's profit last quarter: $1.58 billion
Microsoft's profit last quarter: $4.71 billion

If Microsoft is a loser, Apple must be bankrupt.

There are very good reasons to have a grudge against microsoft. I have wasted years of my life fixing technologies that msft have deliberately molested. Yes, I really hate them, they have been the bane of my life, I'm not going to even bother explaining in further detail 'why' because the fact that it needs explaining would suggest I will be wasting even more of my precious time.

It's a shame you have to resort to calling people "fanboys" simply because your brain is unable to accept other peoples points of view.
I feel sorry for you, if you cannot understand why people dislike msft, you REALLY need help!

 

[LizKat]

Yesss1!!!! Microsoft for world domination! 😀


Edit: Oooops. Posted on the wrong forum. 😛

Post of the year (which is young but hey).

 

[Naimfan]

People like you bug me. You are obviously a very sad pathetic man who has to resort to calling people "fanboys" simply because your pea sized brain is unable to accept other peoples points of view.
I feel sorry for you, if you cannot understand why people dislike msft, you REALLY need help!

Well, far be it from me to try to speak for Badandy, but I do have to say that he also has a solid point. The two of you are speaking across each other--not to each other. Also, you might want to tone your post down a bit--personal insults violate the forum rules.

Microsoft has 3 times the profit, and is growing faster than Apple.

According to both companies' most recent earnings reports, Apple grew revenue at 35% and Microsoft at 30%.

 

[gifford]

Well, far be it from me to try to speak for Badandy, but I do have to say that he also has a solid point. The two of you are speaking across each other--not to each other. Also, you might want to tone your post down a bit--personal insults violate the forum rules.

I dont normally use personal insults unless they are thrown first , tit for tat, but sure i will edit it.

 

[Naimfan]

I dont normally use personal insults unless they are thrown first , tit for tat, but sure i will edit it.

Cool. I didn't see the beginning, so thought I'd just suggest it! 🙂

 

[gifford]

Face it, Microsoft is a well-managed, money-making machine.

The Nazi's were a well managed killing machine, I was not fond of them either.

And just like the Nazi's, msft should be tried for crimes against humanity for slowing the pace of mankinds technical evolution.

I wonder how many people have died thanks to msft's shoddy products.

🙂

 

[eric55lv]

Yep, you're spot-on about this.

Apple does the creative, innovative stuff better.

Microsoft does the bloated, crappy software and monopolistic practices better.

😱

thats why they got sued by the US and EU

 

[gifford]

Cool. I didn't see the beginning, so thought I'd just suggest it! 🙂

Nay worries, It was the words "bloody idiots, fanboyism, pathetic, misplaced" that fueled me to respond in the first place!

 

[elgruga]

The Nazi's were a well managed killing machine, I was not fond of them either.

And just like the Nazi's, msft should be tried for crimes against humanity for slowing the pace of mankinds technical evolution.
🙂

And that is the END of this thread. The Nazis are here.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Well, if this goes through there goes any remaining support for Linux and MacOSX from Yahoo. I might as well clear out my yahoo mail accounts (the only reason I still use Yahoo other than the occasional game of online Euchre) before they take over and head on over to Gmail. If others out there hate Microsoft as much as I do, yahoo's use may go down even more once Microsoft takes over.

 

[deejemon]

*

 

[darkblu]

I'm amazed at all those here who think MS is doing great as a company. Don't you know what a monopoly is, people? Do you think the majority of MS customers, especially buisnesses, go with MS because they love MS products? Do you think they'd still do the same if they had not been entangled in MS bindings all over?

 

[diamond.g]

Another honest question. If MS were to disappear tomorrow, meaning no support for Vista or XP for anyone. Is it possible for Apple to get everyone to convert to OS X? I mean is it possible Apple would then sell the OS separate from the hardware?

I am just not sure I understand why everyone wants MS to go away. It just doesn't seem like Apple could keep up with the demand if MS did disappear.

 

[jayducharme]

Here's an interesting analysis of the pending deal by John Markoff in the New York Times. He makes a good point: for much of its existence, Microsoft has been playing catch-up, whether against Apple or Netscape or Google. Markoff feels that buying Yahoo is yet another re-active Microsoft strategy that has come too late.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/t...em&ex=1202187600&en=d1049203ae0dc529&ei=5087

 

[woodsea]

Why doesn't Mac sell their OSX to DELL, HP, Lenovo?
Seriously what is their excuse? Seems to me, they have a great product that has a monopoly only on their physical architecture. I have read that you can manipulate (hack) so it will load onto a PC.
Seems there would be a demand, look at me. I am a convert, but to be honest I came over to play on both sides of the fence with Bootcamp.
Why is it that Office Mac still is a big seller?
How come doesn't come out with an Office Suite to stamp down all the other wannabees as well as MS Office.

 

[DukeofAnkh]

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/

You can also just set your Yahoo account to forward everything to your new gmail account and associate the yahoo account with gmail so you can send replies from it, if you really want to, within gmail. That's more or less what I do, except that my yahoo account is my spam/subscription account and I don't really need to reply from it.

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

bad news for flickr and its users. yes, that includes me. oh well, time to check out google's picasa.

I kind of like Goolge/Picasa web albums more, because of the integration with Picasa on Windows and the Picasa uploader in OS X. The former is more or less iPhoto and the latter let's you drag and drop images in to be uploaded.

Why doesn't Mac sell their OSX to DELL, HP, Lenovo?
Seriously what is their excuse? Seems to me, they have a great product that has a monopoly only on their physical architecture. I have read that you can manipulate (hack) so it will load onto a PC.
Seems there would be a demand, look at me. I am a convert, but to be honest I came over to play on both sides of the fence with Bootcamp.
Why is it that Office Mac still is a big seller?
How come doesn't come out with an Office Suite to stamp down all the other wannabees as well as MS Office.

The short version is that they tried this in the 90's and it didn't go well for them. They make their money primarily on hardware.

 

[God^Cent]

Why doesn't Mac sell their OSX to DELL, HP, Lenovo?
Seriously what is their excuse? Seems to me, they have a great product that has a monopoly only on their physical architecture. I have read that you can manipulate (hack) so it will load onto a PC.
Seems there would be a demand, look at me. I am a convert, but to be honest I came over to play on both sides of the fence with Bootcamp.
Why is it that Office Mac still is a big seller?
How come doesn't come out with an Office Suite to stamp down all the other wannabees as well as MS Office.

Because when apple designs a new product they make it to be used in the future. Most of our macs will still be used 5 or 6+ years from now. Now compare that to MS's pc's; the life span goes down to about 3 or 4 years. Apple may be limiting the hardware that is available to us, but is making a computer that is customized to the OS unlike MS's OS that must work for millions of hardware configurations.
I Quote Steve Jobs "those wanting to do great software, needing to make hardware."
This is why apple will never be Microsoft.