This is for my own record only, because there are just so many good reviews about this on the Internet. I support this Microsoft's move. This seems to be the only and last chance to Microsoft to move back to the game and become the real competitor to search giant Google. Google finally went on the record today regarding the proposed Microsoft/Yahoo deal. Obviously, they don't like the deal and claimed that it threatens "the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.", which later was responded by Microsoft that "Microsoft is committed to openness, innovation, and the protection of privacy on the Internet.". Microsoft is very serious this time. Michael Arrington is right.
The truth is that Google has become the new Microsoft, and if we want to avoid a repeat of history, we need to allow the formation of a real competitor to keep them honest. Otherwise, all the ills perpetrated on the world by Microsoft in the nineties will likely be repeated again, this time by Google.
Nobody wants to see this happen. Google is all over me know, using their Apps for my email, their Reader to read, their notebook to capture my quick notes, analytics to analyze my websites, toolbar is on every browser, and etc. etc. And thinking about what other online services I am using then, very few, to be honest. Flickr is still my main depository for storing my pictures but hotmail and yahoo mail are long gone even though I am still keeping my hotmail and yahoo addresses but that's all, only keeping. Yes, I like and enjoy what Google offers but sometimes its being too big too dominant bothers me and worries me. That's because, simply, we all know that real competition makes products better, pushes innovation from happening, which in the end all benefits end users, like us.
Zoli passed two great quotes in his blog and there are many all over the place on Internet but I like this one from Microsoft-Yahoo: The deal of the dinos better.
Will this be big enough to beat Google? No, because big won’t win in the end. Open will.
So then, what would happen if the deal comes to real? Duncan Riley from TechCrunch's Microsoft-Yahoo: What Will Stay And What Will Go? is a pretty good to start but not enough because I also agree that "open" matters.
<update date="Feb 8, 2008">
Bex made a really good point that might reveal the real reason why Microsoft wants this deal done, the big portion of the enterprise search pie.
</update>