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Microsoft Businesses The Internet Yahoo!

Yahoo!/Microsoft Execs Meet For Round Two 84

Posted by Zonk from the ready-steady-fight dept.
psychosmyth writes "Microsoft's deal to Yahoo! is apparently back on the table. Yahoo execs met again with Microsoft early this past week to re-discuss the deal that fell through earlier. 'The gathering, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, gave Microsoft its first chance to sell Yahoo on the rationale for the proposed marriage since the software maker unveiled its plans six weeks ago. Since then, Yang has been exploring different ways to ward off Microsoft. The alternatives have included possible alliances with Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc., News Corp.'s MySpace.com and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL.' Microsoft is apparently still keeping all of its options open; a hostile take-over is not out of the question."
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Yahoo!/Microsoft Execs Meet For Round Two More

Yahoo!/Microsoft Execs Meet For Round Two

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  • A fond farewell... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by milsoRgen ( 1016505 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @03:25PM (#22767018) Homepage
    Funny thing is I've been using Yahoo! much more since this all started but it's just the beginning of the end for old Yahoo!. It is destined to slink back into the vast dark recesses of the tubes much like Excite, Lycos, Hotbot, Web Crawler, etc., etc.. All have before it. I certainly think Microsoft will help see to that in a much quicker fashion than Yahoo! could of done on it's own.

    • Re:A fond farewell... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rucs_hack ( 784150 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @03:48PM (#22767166)
      Maybe, but Yahoo isn't just a search engine, is it..

      I don't think it's likely that yahoo will disappear, after all, it has a lot of customers. I don't think this will cure microsofts internet woes. They dropped that ball a long time ago, and yahoo have shown that they are no google. Buying them won't change much for either company.

      Whatever happens, a lot of shareholders will become richer.

      • Re:A fond farewell... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by vaderhelmet ( 591186 ) <darthvaderhelmet AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday March 16, 2008 @03:52PM (#22767192)
        I think most ./ers would be in the same pessimistic boat on this one. You're right, shareholders of both companies are likely to win no matter how this pans out. One thing to think about though is how will employees and customers (users) be affected? My money is going on "adversely".

      • Re:A fond farewell... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by milsoRgen ( 1016505 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @04:01PM (#22767244) Homepage

        Maybe, but Yahoo isn't just a search engine, is it..
        I guess your correct in that statement, but I tend to think of it as it was when I first started [archive.org] using it. Wasn't much more than a search engine with a directory attached back then, but now they have too much going on on their front page. Sure search.yahoo.com is good, but I am under the perception their priorities lie elsewhere...

        I don't think it's likely that yahoo will disappear, after all, it has a lot of customers.
        I don't think it will disappear either but I do think it will cease to be of any improtance rather quickly, only floated by whatever scheme Microsoft devises to get Windows users there. Default start pages and what have you, it wouldn't have to be that way, but I just don't see a world where Microsoft owns something like Yahoo, or Flickr and doesn't rebrand it and attempt a half assed integration into it's existing products.

        • Re:A fond farewell... (Score:4, Insightful)

          by eebra82 ( 907996 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @04:51PM (#22767546) Homepage

          Sure search.yahoo.com is good, but I am under the perception their priorities lie elsewhere...
          Their priorities are elsewhere. I can't say that Google is perfect in its results, but Yahoo has a big problem with multi word searches. The results on large search terms are generally good, but if you go for a smaller phrase, you get far more nonsense than Google's results. Even worse, if you go for smaller phrases with at least two words, you get even worse results. Maybe the average Yahoo user doesn't care about it, but check out SEO forums and you'll see how aggravated people are over this.
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Phurge ( 1112105 )
            good point. any tips on how to migrate out of yahoo mail?

            • good point. any tips on how to migrate out of yahoo mail?

              Do what I'm going to do if/when this old-school corporate thug style hostile takeover goes through. Just run everything you use on Yahoo! through your own Web site. Mail, RSS feeds, news syndication, EVERYTHING you can (though in my case the only real casualty would be Yahoo! Instant Messenger, but I already use MSN as well as AIM and ICQ on Trillian anyway so that will be no real big loss should this go through and regulators give the hostile takeover the A-OK).

        • I might be reaching a bit but the "jumping happy yahoo logo guy" looks a bit like a rotated Yellow Sign. Perhaps Microsoft isn't the only IT company backed by a Great Old One.

          http://www.miskatonic.net/pickman/mythos/prop/ysig1.jpg [miskatonic.net]
      • Maybe, but Yahoo isn't just a search engine, is it..

        No, its also a huge, gigantic joke.

        One of New Zealands 'largest' ISPs (Xtra) dropped their in-house email system some time ago and converted it all to Yahoo mail.

        Since then there have been ongoing problems sending email to Xtra users.

        Yahoo mails smtp server appears to be running qmail.

        *rimshot*

        roflmao Yahoo, qmail, Xtra!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by donweel ( 304991 )
      We are the goon squad and we're coming to town, BEEP BEEP

    • Funny thing is I've been using Yahoo! much more since this all started but it's just the beginning of the end for old Yahoo!.
      I don't know- as a search utility yahoo has been second rate for a long time, but yahoo mail, yahoo/sbc/at&t braoadband is a publuc utility and flickr which was purchased a little while back is certainly alive- as well yahoo news is still a pretty big news source

  • The empire strikes back (Score:3, Funny)

    by ViralInfection ( 1221188 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @03:25PM (#22767026)
    Oh not again...

  • Isn't it about time... (Score:5, Funny)

    by The Ancients ( 626689 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @03:26PM (#22767028) Homepage

    ...Balmer threw his toys (i.e. chair) out of the cot?

    I'd wear full motocross protective gear if I was Yang.

    • Re:Isn't it about time... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by flyingsquid ( 813711 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @03:59PM (#22767228)
      The gathering, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, gave Microsoft its first chance to sell Yahoo on the rationale for the proposed marriage since the software maker unveiled its plans six weeks ago. Since then, Yang has been exploring different ways to ward off Microsoft. The alternatives have included possible alliances with Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc.

      When they use the words "proposed marriage" to describe a Yahoo/Microsoft merger, it reminds me of an old Western melodrama. You know: the villain has managed to buy the local bank, so now he owns the mortgage on the girl's farm, and she has to marry him, or watch him forclose on her beloved farm and turn her out into the cold...

      "Things are looking dire for Miss Yahoo! Will she be forced to offer her hand in marriage to the dastardly Cornelius Microsoft, to save her farm and herself? The very thought is too much for her weak constitution, and her stock price swoons! Cornelius, in the bank office, clutches the mortgage in his bony fingers, then twists his long, black moustache. He throws a chair across the office, laughing in triumph. But who is that figure silhouetted against the horizon? That handsome, broad-shouldered man wearing a white hat and riding a white stallion? The reflected sun shines from the gleaming sheriff's badge on his chest, which reads, 'Don't be evil'. But can he possibly come soon enough to save the fair Miss Yahoo? Next week, the exciting finale!"

      Of course, it's a serial. So the next episode ends in a cliffhanger, with Microsoft tying Yahoo to the train tracks as Google races to get there in time...

      • man, what a beautiful story!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )
        The modern reality of Yahoo forcing M$ into a hostile takeover is simply that M$ is forced to up it offer and shift it to a cash only. So The longer Yahoo can stretch it out and the more M$ is forced to commit and place it's prestige upon success, the better the return for Yahoo shareholders.

        As for M$'s competitors the longer it takes and the more money M$ blows on the deal the batter off they are and then there is of course the added benefit that all those customers of Yahoo who use them in preference to

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by rhyno46 ( 654622 )

      Ballmer playing with the Air (nearly throwing it): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYcxvEfUikg [youtube.com]

      If you have silverlight, go here and search for "ballmer" and you can see him interviewed by Guy Kawasaki: http://sessions.visitmix.com/ [visitmix.com]

    • ...Balmer threw his toys (i.e. chair) out of the cot?
      Tziiiinnnng! Oh no! Not the comfy chair!

  • if it happens (Score:5, Interesting)

    by FudRucker ( 866063 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @03:39PM (#22767120)
    i hope this costs microsoft a freight train full of money, so much that it hurts microsoft and weakens them to the point that they can not buy anything else for a long long time...

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by westlake ( 615356 )
      i hope this costs microsoft a freight train full of money, so much that it hurts microsoft and weakens them to the point that they can not buy anything else for a long long time...

      Microsoft's second quarter profits were $4.71 billion dollars. The company is debt free with $20 billion in liquid reserves. A freight train full of money? "Take a ride on the Reading." Microsoft owns the railroad.

  • Illiad sez... (Score:3, Funny)

    by TheSHAD0W ( 258774 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @03:53PM (#22767198) Homepage
    "Teh caek is a lie!" [userfriendly.org]
  • Yahoo to Microsoft: "Put a one and two zeros in front of that or we walk!"

  • Flickr (Score:2)

    by tsa ( 15680 )
    I already deactivated my Flickr account. MS has enough of my money.
    • WTF? Why do that before a takeover?

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by KwKSilver ( 857599 )
        MS has made it plain that this is an offer that Yahoo! can't refuse. As soon as I heard about MS's intent to force it, I closed my Yahoo! e-mail acct. I'd only opened it a day or two before MS made this offer, so there was nothing important there, anyway. Since MS is going to force this on Yahoo! it is only a matter of time. Plus, I'd expect that the first order of business after a takeover would be to make using Yahoo's services intolerable for BSD and Linux users, which I am. Why wait?

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by tsa ( 15680 )
        Because I had a Pro account that was expiring and I thought I'd wait until the uncertainty about the takeover is over before paying again. ;)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by SeaFox ( 739806 )
        If he waits until afterwards, Microsoft may already have access to his personal information.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Colin Smith ( 2679 )

      I already deactivated my Flickr account. MS has enough of my money.
      Really? How much were they charging you?

       

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jo42 ( 227475 )
      If Messysoft acquires Yahoo I'll cancel ALL of our Yahoo services. More and more I wish Microsoft would, just like dog p00p, dry up and blow away.

  • The REAL reason (Score:4, Funny)

    by overshoot ( 39700 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @04:39PM (#22767464)
    Steve wants the bang: Micro!Soft!
    • I think the new should be called "Microhoo!". I kind of suspect that's what people call Ballmer behind his back (they'd do it in front of him but don't want a chair thrown at them).

  • Forget Yahoo, Microsoft is screwing up! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by erroneus ( 253617 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @05:02PM (#22767600) Homepage
    There is very little that Microsoft has bought that didn't turn to crap and die. (Yes, I acknowledge there are some things that have done rather well, but they were already doing well before Microsoft got them and even then somehow the majority of those surviving have gotten a bit worse.)

    Yahoo will always be second or third place to Google. Microsoft made their attempt with MSN. It's crap and never caught on. Yahoo and all of its things, while many are still vibrant, are generally too spammy to be useful any longer. (I can't tell you how many groups I had joined only to become flooded with unending spam even after leaving those groups!)

    I simply cannot imagine with Microsoft's history of misunderstanding the internet (primarily they somehow don't get that they can't control or guide the internet in any successful way) and Yahoo's failure to maintain its dominance or communities that they can somehow put something together that will compete with Google.

    Microsoft is just wasting money.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by dhavleak ( 912889 )

      There is very little that Microsoft has bought that didn't turn to crap and die. (Yes, I acknowledge there are some things that have done rather well, but they were already doing well before Microsoft got them and even then somehow the majority of those surviving have gotten a bit worse.)

      • Bungie Studios (even happily spun off as a healthy independant game studio now)
      • Visio Corp. (I assume you're familiar with Visio?)
      • Groove Networks (their CEO is now the Cheif Technology Architect at MS - Ray Ozzie himself
      • Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires, and soon, Halo Wars)
      • Rare Inc. (Perfect Dark Zero)

      Note that many acquisitions probably get integrated and the products renamed for branding purposes (for example, Viridian which ends up being MS's Virtualization solution). Just because they disappeare

      • Rare Inc. (Perfect Dark Zero)
        For the most part I agree, but using Rare as an example of a company that succeeded after Microsoft purchased it? Thats one heck of a joke. Prior to its purchase, Rare was creating some of the most outstanding (and genre-defining) games on the market: Goldeneye, Banjo Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong 64 all jump to mind. They pushed the envelope, and did it well. Alas, The old Rare is missed.

        • For the most part I agree, but using Rare as an example of a company that succeeded after Microsoft purchased it? Thats one heck of a joke...
          Possibly.. I just mentioned some stuff of the top of my head..

  • Migration headache (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rice_burners_suck ( 243660 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @06:13PM (#22767974)
    I have this feeling that one of the terms of this deal will require Yahoo! to dump all its FreeBSD-based technology and migrate their entire system to Microsoft's newest Windows Server. This deal will undoubtedly create the same sort of chaos that ensued when Microsoft switched Hotmail's systems in the same manner, since there is this rule that goes something like, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Making such a large-scale migration is sure to create nothing but chaos until after completed and after all the bugs have been ironed out, and the only benefit is that Microsoft can later brag about how Yahoo!'s entire system runs on Windows. There can be no other benefit since the system evidently works fine under FreeBSD.

    • Actually, they have already stated in their press releases that initial integration will only be for things that make sense (plugging in MS's ad platform and search). This is painless and completely transparent to the end user. Later integration will be done on a case-by-case basis where it makes sense. Areas where future scalability and technologies are important will definitely be migrated to windows server, but not migrated for its own sake. I'm obviously paraphrasing, but they've repeated stuff to this

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hachete ( 473378 )
        The assertions that MS make are assertions only - I'd treat them with the caution they deserve rather than the solid-gold statements you seem to think they are - and I don't care how often they repeat things in public. Repeating them won't make them come true. The Hotmail case is a tried and tested example of their work.

        So, just how much are MS paying you to catch flak on /. today?

        • ...and I don't care how often they repeat things in public...

          Neither do I. Slashdot posts, repeating ad-infinum that MS will rip out BSD and replace it with Windows Server without reason, doesn't make that prediction true either.

          So, let's assume the following:
          - press releases aren't worth much, for predicting what MS will do
          - /. posts aren't worth much, for predicting what MS will do
          - a little logical analysis however, is worth something

          Now with these assumptions, if MS invests 44B in something, logic says they will want that investment to c

  • MS to Yahoo!: "All we want to do is eat your brains, we're not trying to be unreasonable and eat your eyes..." :P

  • Warding off Microsoft (Score:3, Interesting)

    by The Famous Brett Wat ( 12688 ) on Sunday March 16, 2008 @09:26PM (#22769302) Homepage Journal

    Yang has been exploring different ways to ward off Microsoft.

    TFA doesn't say whether he's tried such approaches as garlic, holy water, etc. What is the appropriate ward against Microsoft, anyhow? Come to think of it, I suspect it might be the GPL: their attitude towards GPL'd software is a lot like a vampire's reaction to a cross. So if Yahoo really wants to ward off Microsoft, they should spin off some of their software into a GPL project run by a separate non-profit entity, something like the Mozilla Foundation [mozilla.org]. Microsoft will recoil in horror. (Not that Yahoo has any software the rest of us would care to see, so far as I'm aware -- but that's beside the point.)

    • Great comments! I'm honored.
      I belive it's just "the sound of inevitibility".
      Monopolies just get addicted to power and any threat makes them tremble with fear
      which,as many great shrinks will tell you, leads to aggresion. Yikes.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mudshark ( 19714 )
      Actually, for web app developers using AJAX and DOM scripting, the YUI Widgets [yahoo.com] are a great resource and are all under a BSD license. Yahoo also owns Zimbra, an open source (not GPL) mail and groupware server that has made some inroads on the MS Exchange hegemony.

  • Save Flickr! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Fishbulb ( 32296 ) on Monday March 17, 2008 @01:44AM (#22770548)
    Please GOD, if anyone at Yahoo! is reading this:

    SELL OFF FLICKR FIRST!

    It's one of the few sites I kinda like.

  • I'm not an MS fan, but what does Yahoo really have that MS would get through the deal. Just the mere purchase of Yahoo by MS will turn off alot of Yahoo advertisers. MS already has all the elements that Yahoo has via their "live" brand which seems to be more modern than Yahoo's search.

    So what does MS really expect to gain?
  • It seems to me that essentially Microsoft is trying to buy their way out of what is a fundamental problem with their corporate culture. The *reason* their products are crap is they don't understand how to inspire their troops to excellence and resort to browbeating them instead. Buying out Yahoo isn't going to fix that, it'll just drag Yahoo down to their level.

  • I said this before but here it goes again: I hope I continue to have access to delicious bookmarks for the long run. I would be disappointed should that fall apart. Then I'd have to find another bookmark service like that. I love accessing my bookmarks from anywhere :-)

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