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Yahoo needs Microsoft’s help

grouchygeek.blogs.fortune.cnn.… — Now we know it wasn ’t just a rumor all these months. Microsoft (MSFT) has been seriously thinking about swallowing up Yahoo (YHOO) since way back in 2006. In what would be by far its largest acquisition ever

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  • exinco, on 02/03/2008, -12/+3hemm.. who knows time will judge
    • deadowl, on 02/03/2008, -1/+3Well, the going price is a no brainer. However, the FTC is the judge... not so much time.
  • th3st1ck, on 02/03/2008, -14/+1oh wow
    • kalphegor, on 02/03/2008, -0/+1It's wow, but who will cash all this money?
  • dannydowney, on 02/03/2008, -9/+3we shall see, someone has to do something if you want to compete against Google
    • Audacitor, on 02/03/2008, -4/+4I don't think even a Microhoo could compete with Google. Google's just to large, to well-known, and since they own the number one most visited page on the Internet, they're in prime position to advertise services that just make them bigger.
  • rkfcomputers, on 02/03/2008, -3/+39Let's hope MS is wise enough to prune away the loser services from both MSN and Yahoo and keep the strong ones.
    • ortucis, on 02/03/2008, -6/+18MS loves services. Everyday at MS is like huge services orgy. Just look at Vista.
    • sporb, on 02/03/2008, -8/+5what if they took the 'loser services' and called it 'labs'? seems to be the way the 'good guys' get away with it.
      • LightSpeed4, on 02/03/2008, -3/+1haha
      • luchid, on 02/03/2008, -5/+1Except, you know, Google Lab's project work.
        • sporb, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1since when did the services in google labs consist of all hits (as defined by rkfcomputers)? seems like my point has been lost on you. i admire the work at google labs, and i don't think that they should get rid of any of the 'loser services'. same goes with any other service for yahoo or microsoft. because it's not popular doesn't mean it's a 'loser service'.

          look what you made me do! this reply doesn't have the same flavor as my first reply. to bad digg doesn't have a block function i could use on tards like you!
    • jahurt, on 02/03/2008, -2/+3Just like they did with Hotmail.

      Oh wait...
  • J-roc, on 02/03/2008, -8/+9Yahoo to me is a real footnote on the internet at this point, I don't know anybody who honestly uses it for anything. If I were Microsoft I'd keep the Windows Live name and have Yahoo subscribers switch to that, afterall they want to start "Live Services" for computing anywhere, so they'll have to stick with it.
    • Atomic1fire, on 02/03/2008, -4/+5Or Just turn Yahoo into a Live brand
      Yahoo Live doesn't sound that terrible
      as opposed to Microhoo
      • LightSpeed4, on 02/03/2008, -4/+1yahoo live sounds pretty bad ass
    • tshawkins, on 02/03/2008, -2/+14You have gotta be kidding, Yahoo is still the biggest internet destination by visits and registered users

      http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/ ...

    • carbonetc, on 02/03/2008, -2/+13Never heard of Flickr?
    • bayviews, on 02/03/2008, -2/+2yahoo also has the best financial data-site on the web too
    • djrbx, on 02/03/2008, -0/+5I'd love to agree with you but unfortunately I can't. Here in the US I'd agree that hardly anyone uses Yahoo anymore, if you go to schools or businesses, they tend to use either msn seach or google.. BUT, once you leave the US and head to, lets say, Europe or Asia, Yahoo dominates over there. I've seen it so many times when I travel abroad to visit my girl in Italy and some family members in Asia. So to say Yahoo is dead is a little jumping over board.
    • bingobongony, on 02/03/2008, -3/+4The iPod is really a footnote in the personal media device market at this point. Coca Cola is really a footnote in hte soft drink industry at this point. The Patriots are really a footnote in football history.
      • LightSpeed4, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1i always digg up your posts, its funny cuz its true, how can you diss the most visited site on the planet
    • TheMachine1, on 02/03/2008, -5/+0I goto to search engines to search. Yahoo became a "portal" not a search engine.

      portal: a confusing array of links and service intended to render basic Internet searching very difficult. Opposite term: google
  • leaflord, on 02/03/2008, -9/+4*sigh*... I'm a Y! user cuz there was a time when google was just a search engine and Yahoo was the only nice alternative to Hotmail
    • bingobongony, on 02/03/2008, -1/+2To most people, Google STILL is just a search engine.
  • krystal7, on 02/03/2008, -9/+0I'm sure all those executives, lawyers and analysts working for Microsoft know what they are getting into.

    Although it seems strange, this acquisition will only benefit Microsoft despite Yahoo's shortcomings.
  • OstrakonX, on 02/03/2008, -15/+264 diggs, and it makes front page?

    Interesting news, though. Maybe MS will cut the spyware out of Yahoo's software, like Musicmatch and whatnot.

    I mean, look how good MS is at removing unnecessary things that slow down people's machines?
    • srg13, on 02/03/2008, -2/+2"Maybe MS will cut the spyware out of Yahoo's software, like Musicmatch and whatnot."

      Cut the spyware? This is Microsoft we're talking about here - they'd probably make it hook more into the OS, and a lot harder to detect and remove, like the rest of their DRM
  • lfernandez91, on 02/03/2008, -11/+5So will it be Yahoo+MSFT against Google+Apple?
    • GoneGreen, on 02/03/2008, -3/+3dugg, for forward thinking...
    • Audacitor, on 02/03/2008, -2/+1No, just Y!+MSFT vs. Google. Apple's support, if Google had it, would be negligible. Why doesn't Google have Apple's support? They probably do, as far as spirit goes, but Apple isn't into to web services as much Yahoo is.
  • krnldmp, on 02/03/2008, -11/+5Go to yahoo.com, then aol.com. Identical suck.
  • TwoLOUD, on 02/03/2008, -9/+29Me for one never used yahoo to search. Google results are alot better. Yahoo was out the door a few years ago..well all knew it.
    • MioTheGreat, on 02/03/2008, -7/+9I actually kind of like Live for searching. It gives surprisingly good results, and the image search is better than Google's in every way shape and form.
      • lfernandez91, on 02/03/2008, -6/+5No.
      • Audacitor, on 02/03/2008, -5/+3Ugh, the JavaScript on Live is more annoying than anything else. Everywhere I move my mouse, something on the page changes size.
        • sammykeyes, on 02/03/2008, -2/+3What are you talking about? I actually use Live Search, and nothing changes when you toss your cursor around.

          Live Search is as static as it can be.
      • luchid, on 02/03/2008, -6/+2Live is the MS approach to search. Ugly, slow, useless and bloated.
        • sammykeyes, on 02/03/2008, -3/+7Ok, maybe you haven't been using Live Search recently. I wouldn't at all say Live Search is ugly. How is it slow? I did a search and it probably took less than one second.

          Do you think web search is also useless? And bloated? I know there's tons of reasons to hate some of MS's products, but what you're saying is just stupid. Plain hate.
      • northerngeek, on 02/03/2008, -2/+3Indeed and their image search is improving- - Enter in a name and then filter:face - Change the word face for portrait - Witness the brilliant algorithms they've worked on - There is another I think for bw (black and white images) Shame they haven't implemented these into their GUI yet- which IMO is very nice too. Video now does Video Preview which is something very impressive, and as I work in the NHS (Britain's Health Service) I love HealthVault, it's such a brilliant tool to recommend to patients and colleagues. Shame that none of this is popular until Google does it!
    • tba2287, on 02/03/2008, -1/+2Dugg for bad grammar.
    • bingobongony, on 02/03/2008, -2/+3Of course, you say you never used it, but you KNOW that their search resutls suck? It is funny since most analysts are saying that Google has remained stagnat as they focus their efforts on trying to enter too many markets where they have virutlaly no hope of making an impact, while LKive and Yahoo have been catching up. Some people even say SURPASSED Google in terms of quality of results.
    • Kanidia, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1I sort of have to agree with you. The last time I used Yahoo search was in 1997...
  • jm4847, on 02/03/2008, -12/+43Who cares about Yahoo? Plus who uses Live Search or Live Mail anymore? This is nothing but two failures combined to form a new and more epic failure.
    • aseainme, on 02/03/2008, -4/+8True, both have no effective search. Recently Google has implemented new policy regarding the Paid Linking and they are stopping the techniques which manipulate the search results. Emphasizing more upon natural search results now!
    • sporb, on 02/03/2008, -5/+6jm4847, i got news for you... you're not the center of the universe! lots of people use lots of services that you don't and your ignorance makes me laugh.
    • sammykeyes, on 02/03/2008, -6/+14Well I happen to use Live Search AND like it. I could go on and on, about some aspect that makes it better than Google.

      And millions of users across the world use either Y! Mail or Live Hotmail.

      You're not the center of the world you know.
      • quikboy, on 02/03/2008, -4/+8That's rather egotistic of you.

        There are many Y! and Live users.

        And while I'm not saying Google is bad at all, I find Image and Video search actually revolutionary on Live Search. Really. If you'd actually tried it, you would be surprised. Clean infinite scroll to view images, and hovering over pics give nice details, instead of dropping them onto the clean page. Hovering over video thumbnails acutally gives previews of the video content right there! To me, that's pretty amazing.

        Here's the good stuff that Yahoo has : Yahoo! Answers, Y!'s content sites are pretty good, and some aspects of Y! Mail.
        Windows Live has : Live Maps (if you'd try it, there are actually good things that aren't even on Gmaps!), Live Hotmail (I know Gmail is pretty popular these days, but Hotmail has changed, and there are some really nifty things for that one too), Live Writer, and other technologies like PhotoSynth, Silverlight, Popfly, and other things going into research.

        So I wouldn't call them both 'failures' if they both have tons of users, and many great stuff.
        • luchid, on 02/03/2008, -3/+3Hotmail?! Are you serious? That thing is so bloated, slow, useless and it's purposedly broken on decent browsers.
        • rossfly, on 02/03/2008, -2/+2@luchid: Bloated and slow I don't agree with. If you think e-mail is useless, than you're saying Gmail and Y! Mail are also useless.

          But yeah, Live Hotmail really needs to better on other browsers.
      • quikboy, on 02/03/2008, -0/+3^^^^ Sorry. I mean the above post to as reply to jm4847 post. ^^^^
      • almostadesigner, on 02/03/2008, -2/+2I find that Yahoo and Live search find useless links that I don't want. I don't care how pretty the Live site is.
        It sucks!
    • quikboy, on 02/03/2008, -3/+8That's rather egotistic of you.

      There are many Y! and Live users.

      And while I'm not saying Google is bad at all, I find Image and Video search actually revolutionary on Live Search. Really. If you'd actually tried it, you would be surprised. Clean infinite scroll to view images, and hovering over pics give nice details, instead of dropping them onto the clean page. Hovering over video thumbnails acutally gives previews of the video content right there! To me, that's pretty amazing.

      Here's the good stuff that Yahoo has : Yahoo! Answers, Y!'s content sites are pretty good, and some aspects of Y! Mail.
      Windows Live has : Live Maps (if you'd try it, there are actually good things that aren't even on Gmaps!), Live Hotmail (I know Gmail is pretty popular these days, but Hotmail has changed, and there are some really nifty things for that one too), Live Writer, and other technologies like PhotoSynth, Silverlight, Popfly, and other things going into research.

      So I wouldn't call them both 'failures' if they both have tons of users, and many great stuff.
      • Theli, on 02/03/2008, -4/+2Personally I find the image search on Live to be annoying. I really don't like it when the web page changes as I move my mouse over an element. I prefer it to remain static until I click a button. And I never saw any previews when hovering over a video thumbnail. Maybe it only works properly in IE.
    • Audacitor, on 02/03/2008, -6/+2Lot's of people use both Live and Y! mail these days. Mostly average people, who aren't very tech-savvy. They get wrapped in the whole MSN thing because that's where IE points them.
      • bingobongony, on 02/03/2008, -5/+1I LOVE it when dumb ***** like you prove how UN tech savvy you are by suggesting that only "average" people use a product you don't, while "smarter" people use what you use. People who use Gmail are in NO way more tech savvy that people who use Hotmail or Yahoo mail. Yahoo and Hotmail do EVERYTHING that 99.99999999999999999999999999% of the population need their mail to do. That includes people who are far smarter than you could ever HOPE to be. So there was no reason to swtich just to give yourself some false sense of superiortiy.
        People who established business contracts on their Hotmail or Yahoo mail were not about to switch 2 years ago just to say they did it. Most people STIlL have absolutely no need for 2 Gig of storage for their mail. So they were not about to go to all those contacts and say "Please change your address book for me to this new e-mail."
        Remember this...you are NOT superior to anyone. Ever
        • Brundy, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1You need a therapist or something. You have some serious psychological issues.
        • jm4847, on 02/03/2008, -2/+2lol bingobongory you fail so hard. Your ad hominems impress no one.
          Truth is people who know how to use Gmail and FIrefox are smarted than those who use IE and MSN and don't know squat about anything else.
    • bingobongony, on 02/03/2008, -2/+6The millions of people who make yahoo the NUMBER ONE SITE on the internet care.
      Who cares about the iPod?
    • Kanidia, on 02/03/2008, -0/+2I use Windows Live Mail. Maybe not for email, but since I made that account in grade 5, you wouldn't think I would just stop using it? Plus, I still use Windows Live Messenger (not the software, the service).
  • lfernandez91, on 02/03/2008, -6/+14The only worthy Y! service is Flickr. And MSFT will probably screw it making it "Live Photos" or some crap like that.
    • sammykeyes, on 02/03/2008, -4/+7Or maybe they can combine their PhotoSynth technology with Flickr? Because that would be really awesome.

      Or maybe they'll just make Pro accounts cheaper, add something new or something. Microsoft KNOWS that if they don't show that they'll do something very good with the acquisition, current users will drop as fast as you can say goodbye.
      • luchid, on 02/03/2008, -4/+4Most of flickr's members would cancel their accounts if MS took over.
        • johnpaul191, on 02/03/2008, -1/+4I'm in that camp. I would not even give MS a chance to screw things up. Call me a hater, but i would walk in a heartbeat.
        • Atomic1fire, on 02/03/2008, -2/+1I doubt microsoft would be stupid enough to tick off the userbase its buying
          If anything I think they should prove that they care by merging both web properties (Msn and yahoo)
          why
          Coexistence will not probably work because if history taught us anything its that ask couldn't pull it off with excite and I doubt Microsoft would do that.
          Merging the brands would not only mean implementing features from both services but finding the original works from both sides that suck and improving on them
          Such as less dependence on activeX and more on silverlight (Firefox friendly) because I would think it would be in microsofts interest to compete with newer game services and having a silverlight powered game site might be cool
          And powering yahoo videos or Msn videos with silverlight might work too
    • Audacitor, on 02/03/2008, -1/+4I don't think they'll change Flickr's name. Flickr is really well known through out the web. It's almost a household name. Changing it would be most unwise.
    • mithrasinvictus, on 02/03/2008, -0/+1Or make it so users need the latest version of silverlight (meaning vista)
      • dr3d, on 02/03/2008, -3/+0do you even understand what SIlverLight is ?
        • Atomic1fire, on 02/03/2008, -2/+1Silverlight is available for XP provided your computer is not crap
          and besides more silverlight and less activeX plugins that dont work with firefox is a good thing
          • mithrasinvictus, on 02/03/2008, -0/+1yeah, as long as it needs a bigger install base, after that support for other browsers and platforms will lag behind the version supported only on the newest version of their OS. (their excuse will either be that it would be too expensive to fully support their competitors or that only their system provides the necessary hooks the newest version needs)
    • igeoffi, on 02/03/2008, -2/+3Microsoft will do what they did to Hotmail to Flickr.
  • Asianwaste, on 02/03/2008, -9/+2Yahotmail?
    Does this mean MS could soon be providing my Internet... AT&T's SBC MS Yahoo DSL service?
    At least if this happens I can apply my e-mail address to Outlook.
  • sf49rox, on 02/03/2008, -12/+1"I will NEVER work for MICROSOFT, they are EVIL and morally BANKRUPT."
    *mail arrives*
    Mortgage payment this month: $3,670.
    VISA minimum payment due: $456
    Electric: $859
    Water: $110
    The air you breathe: $45
    "Well, maybe just until... I find... something... better...? *****.
    • sf49rox, on 02/03/2008, -0/+5$859 electric bill? Yes, Yahoo! does make their employees run parts of their datacenter at home
      • isntreal, on 02/03/2008, -1/+2Electric heating.
        • voyvf, on 02/03/2008, -0/+2Even with electric heating, mine rarely goes above $200.
          • isntreal, on 02/03/2008, -0/+1Well those high power sodium bulbs might have something to do with it. Gotta keep the plants warm.
  • acitta, on 02/03/2008, -9/+3Will this be big enough to beat Google? No, because big won’t win in the end. Open will. --Jeff Jarvis http://digg.com/business_finance/Microsoft_Yahoo_T ...
  • GoneGreen, on 02/03/2008, -7/+1Well it's not like google could screw up yahoo... yahoo has already done that, so only good could come from it... and hey, maybe yahoo will finally have descent search engine results again!
  • BlazinGTI, on 02/03/2008, -13/+0FA-GGOT
  • mrzack, on 02/03/2008, -9/+4NO!! Microsuck needs Yahoo's help.
    • chriskeyes, on 02/03/2008, -0/+2Well maybe a little on the MSN side (MSN's content sites are really getting to be a bore). I'm certain Yahoo!'s site designers could give some real help to MSN's side. Yahoo!'s refreshed sites have really started getting more usable lately if you're a heavy user of them.

      But as for Windows Live, the only thing Y! has on the is just Flickr. I hope the deal means cheaper Pro accounts, PhotoSynth tech, and maybe other new features we've been waiting for.
    • bingobongony, on 02/03/2008, -2/+3Microsuck! WOW! That is AWESOME!
      You MUST be the most popular kid in 3rd grade!
      • mrzack, on 02/03/2008, -3/+1youre just jealous I thought of it first sucka foo.
    • Atomic1fire, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1NO!!!! Microsuck and YaWho need to Combine their strong points In order to beat Giggle.
      (Ha I out trolled the trolls)
      • mrzack, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1I'm so proud of you, I'm speechless...
  • sammykeyes, on 02/03/2008, -3/+14I hope to see it this way:

    Best of Y! + Best of WinLive/MSN = one great cohesive web services/content

    I mean, it's not like MS will pay for so much money, and not do anything good out of it. Both companies have some great features on what they have, but sometimes they don't have some of the good features that the other company has. I would like to see them merge the best stuff into one super site, instead of small separate ones.

    Instead of being pessimistic, I'm going to hope that there will be great stuff coming out of this deal.
    • luchid, on 02/03/2008, -5/+2Look at the past MS acquisitions and tell me what good came out of them... Yeah, take your time...
      • rossfly, on 02/03/2008, -3/+1Ok, I'm interested. Can you tell me some of these acquisitions and what badness came out of them. Please enlighten me.
  • fuzzynyanko, on 02/03/2008, -0/+5I used Yahoo back in the day (before google). Eventually I only used Yahoo for other things like mail and the occasional game. Yahoo messenger also has a few nice points, though I think they merged it into msn's messenger
    • bayviews, on 02/03/2008, -3/+1boy, before google???? you must be an old timer
      • voyvf, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1Yes, because Google existed prior to 1930. Really.
  • chriskeyes, on 02/03/2008, -4/+7Yahoo! Search is REALLY bad. Live Search is leagues better than it. Especially in the Image and Video Search department.

    Though things like Y!'s content sites, Yahoo! Answers, and even some aspect of Y! Mail are pretty good.

    It would be neat to see the best of Y! stuff merging with the best of Windows live stuff.
    • Atomic1fire, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1I think they should call it Yahoo Live
      The Wow is now... and So is the YAHOO
  • Compserd, on 02/03/2008, -2/+7Its about time that someone steps up to seriously compete with Google. Google is trying to takeover the web.
    • bingobongony, on 02/03/2008, -1/+2They aren't doing a very good job seeing as the only thing they are even REMOTELY competitive in is Search and text ads. In every single other marketthat they have entered they are nothing but insignificant players in the market.
  • LightSpeed4, on 02/03/2008, -2/+16image search and video search on LIVE.COM is really good, if you never tried it, you should before saying live sucks

    http://www.live.com
    • Kanidia, on 02/03/2008, -1/+2It doesn't suck, but that doesn't mean I use it. I guess I just like Google...
    • kbcool, on 02/03/2008, -0/+0You seen Yahoo's Alpha/Combo search? I reckon that's the way forward! Pity they're only doing it in Australia now.

      http://au.alpha.yahoo.com

      Make your own custom searches, video, images, ebay listings, whatever you want.
  • HairyPoter, on 02/03/2008, -6/+2This is excellent news to Google. Microsoft will remove the only company that has conditions to compete with Google. Once Yahoo is absorbed by M$ and its DNA is contaminated, Google will reign forever. M$ cannot and will never be able to compete with Google in any field. The amusing site of this bid is that M$ is signing a certificate saying "our search engine sucks, our ad delivering system sucks, we need Yahoo's to destroy Google". The day this happens and I will close all my accounts on YahooMail, Yahoo Advertising, Flickr, Del-icious, and etc.
    • bingobongony, on 02/03/2008, -3/+1With pretty much every single sentence in your comment, you removed all credibility you might have had in terms of being an intelligent, unbiased individual. There is no reason to talk about this with you, because you are not interested in facts. You just want to be a little bitch about Microsoft. (And seriously...it is not 2001 anymore. the $ thing...REALLY pathetic.)
      • rippin1700, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1Yeah, eat me. It's not about the "$ thing". Have you seen something called Windows Vista?? They went backwards from Windows XP. Have you seen the latest Office suite? They ***** that up too. So tell me, why should I have ANY confidence in Microsoft pulling off a successful hat trick by buying Yahoo? Microsoft is dying just like Yahoo. Google obviously has some talented people working for them and they are coming up with some slick apps and ideas. Google is simply Microsoft circa 1980s. In time Google will falter and there will be another to replace them.

        The writing is on the wall and the ship is sinking. Everyone else seems to know this except the captains of the ships.
  • DontThinkSo, on 02/03/2008, -5/+1NOM NOM NOM
  • amitku, on 02/03/2008, -0/+4It's not trivial to merge companies of this size and integrate their services in a meaningful way. In theory, this could springboard Microsoft back into the web game, but so many things have to go right for this to happen. From a consumer point of view, I'm hoping they are able to succeed, because I don't want Google to have a monopoly on the web anymore than I want MS to have a monopoly on my desktop.
  • duggynyc, on 02/03/2008, -3/+2It is sad that it has come to this. Yahoo, once the boldest, most dominant, and most innovative Internet company, has now been reduced to goldfish in a tank full of piranhas. Nice going, Mr. Semel, your legacy is set.
  • oldgal, on 02/03/2008, -3/+2at least with google apps (blogspot, gmail, page creator, docs, etc.) you can easily link to all the Yahoo or MSN stuff. I will be surprised if the same will be true for the new stepford wife whatever she may be named.
  • jf76, on 02/03/2008, -5/+4Ya-who?
  • chessoriginal, on 02/03/2008, -4/+0this is a wise move by both companies, otherwise google is going to dominate
  • SDL486, on 02/03/2008, -1/+3competition is always a good thing
    • Digg90210, on 02/03/2008, -0/+1So does competition increase or decrease if Microsoft buys Yahoo?
      • LightSpeed4, on 02/03/2008, -2/+1increase, the new ms/yahoo would have 30% s.e. marketshare, which is more valuable to advertisers than they are when seperate, actually forming a new competitor.
  • sovanrs, on 02/03/2008, -0/+3It's just sad to see a one time pioneer Internet co of Web 1.0 era going bust the way Yahoo is without a bang just a quiet whimper! It's even more amusing to see how Microsoft has finally acknowledged to the entire world that it's web and Internet strategy has not really gone anywhere including the much touted Windows Live suite of service, The fact remains that Microsoft at it's heart still remains very much a brick and mortar PC centric co which has been trying to do a catch up on every aspect of next evolution of Web whether it's on line services or cloud computing or for that matter search ..Buying Yahoo at this point creates a tremendous amount of overlap across many on line business's not to mention the vast gulf in terms of culture both from people and technology perspective... If only Yahoo could get it's act right and figured out a way to monetize all the eye ball's it get's for all it's content . the road map was always there in front of Yahoo however it lost time initially not identifying major trends such as video sharing & social networking and later post Semel era perpetually looking over the shoulder to figure out where Google is headed ! In the bargain they lost out on innovation and lost focus on area's where they were the leaders in the first place ... just a terrible way to go i say ,,,
    • LightSpeed4, on 02/03/2008, -1/+0look at the bright side, yahoo will now be bigger competitor to google.
  • srothman, on 02/03/2008, -1/+6A lot of these comments treat yahoo as only a search engine. There are many services Yahoo has that are "beating" Google, like Flickr ( I mean who do you know uses Picasso?), Yahoo Answers (Google answers doesn't even exist anymore, try using Yahoo Answers it's cool), Mybloglog, Yahoo small business (try buying a domain and hosting from Google), and Yahoo chat and games (is there even a Google chat?). If Microsoft can cultivate the sub brands and services that Yahoo does right by merging them into more successful properties and improve them they may really have something. As for the search service itself I don't see it getting more popular than Google, but by combining technologies and taking a "direction" (IE focus on social search etc) they might be able to cut out more marketshare and grow instead of shrink.

    I personally use Google for search, gmail etc, but use and really enjoy Flickr, Yahoo answers, Mybloglog, and Yahoo chat and games (has a great online chess playing community).
    • voyvf, on 02/03/2008, -2/+1There is a Google chat, it uses the Jabber protocol, tied in with Gmail. And while I'm not really a fan of blogs run by other companies, preferring to write and host my own, Blogger is rather robust.

      I have to agree with you on Flickr, though. It's way better than any other 3rd party service out there at the moment, though admittedly I haven't tried out Picasa's API yet. If Yahoo! does accept the offer, I may very well try it, just in case things go badly.
      • kckman, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1Try and locate a google chatroom. this is THE one semi useful service that yahoo offers that nobody else comes close to. What you're mentioning is Instant messaging. google calls its client Google Talk.
        • voyvf, on 02/03/2008, -0/+1Ah, the web based chatroom. Since you're talking about the lowest common denominator - i.e., those who can't figure out IRC - you're more than welcome to it.
  • Digg90210, on 02/03/2008, -0/+3On maps, Microsoft kicks Google's butt. They have the Pictometry "birds eye" images which totally rock! Much better than satellite or street view. Even the newspapers use Pictometry. I wish Google would buy Pictometry.
  • Digg90210, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1The culture merge could be nasty:
    - Microsoft loves Windows, IIS, ASP, .NET, IE
    - Yahoo is a Linux house, I thought.
    Also, how do you merge Yahoo mail and Hotmail/LiveMail? A zillion usernames will conflict.
  • bincoder, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1I'm still pi**ed at M$ for changing to Live Mail, and how all my contacts and email vanished forever when they did it wo my approval on my acct. I don't like yahoo either, guess they will make a nice couple. Sic em Gmail!
  • doshomik, on 02/03/2008, -0/+1Buying Yahoo! wont help Microsoft to overtake search market from google. But google will get a hard competition from Microsoft in the advertising market. google.com became the de facto standard for search like the way Windows became for PC. I'll go to google.com for search rather then going to search.yahoo.com or search.msn.com. Its easy to remember and ppls like the name for search (google it).

    What Microsoft can do is get a cool name for their search engine. may be they can buy digg.com :P and spend $1 billion for its market & advertisement. make it popular to ppls. DIGG IT, DIGG THIS, DIGG THAT 'Stop googling. Start Digging' then i think google will get something in search market.

    But Im may be dreaming for it. :p

    (dont digg me down for the idea :( )
  • twitrock, on 02/03/2008, -0/+1I wonder how this will effect the Yahoo features built-in to the iPhone. I really enjoy the weather and stocks that y! provides and hopefully MS doesn't ***** it up.
  • pHyd, on 02/03/2008, -1/+1yahoo is not safe anymore. my mail has been hack twice!
    • northerngeek, on 02/03/2008, -0/+2Not to say you're one of these people but in my experience people who have their email "hacked" are normally just careless with making their passwords, choosing answers to secret questions or just have rather poor practice with regards to holding informtion.

      The number of people I know who say Gmail gives them less spam, I have a Yahoo! mail account and I don't get any spam- what's the explanation? I would expect it's that a lot of people put their email in places easy for bots to find, have friends who give out their email to "services" so I can be "reccomended" ... it's no wonder they get spammed.

      I imagine you are either:

      A) Really unlucky- in which case I have sympathy
      B) Something like the above description of a person
      C) Spreading F-U-D which so many MS haters claim MS does all the time when in fact I see it the opposite way 90% of the time.
  • Visarga, on 02/03/2008, -1/+2This deal will be just like when CMGI bought Altavista, thus rendering it useless. I think Microsoft will make Yahoo suck like hell after the merger. So this will in turn help Google consolidate its leading position. At the same time it is a very embarrassing moment for Microsoft.
    I never liked "Yahoo!" much. Front page too cluttered. Search is not better than Google's. Mail was ***** bf. Gmail. They don't sparkle and inspire imaginations. Just two me-too companies joining. They will sink faster together.
  • betona, on 02/03/2008, -1/+2I can't see how the two cultures can mesh together. My brushes with Y! people in the past left me with the feeling they were very cocky and arrogant to a fault. My brushes (plus a day of interviewing) with MSN people in the past left me with some of the same feeling plus a level of rudeness not often found anywhere coupled with a massive bureaucracy. MSN has so many departments and slices up simple functions so many ways, it's a wonder they ever get anything done.
  • yonrah, on 02/03/2008, -1/+0I really hope MS doesn't screw up the Y! Finance cuz its good the way it is and way better that MSs version
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