Thoughts about MS Purchasing Yahoo

My first reaction was OMG. As I think about it I really question weather MS can turn Yahoo around or do any better job of managing it. It may be a question of Microsoft has to try and this is their opening. The purchase grows their customer base for internet services and they acquire a very large index and IP. I have very little view of the financial part of the deal and the overall implications so my view is pure tech and business results...

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The biggest issues that I see with Yahoo is that their search is not as good, and they slowly ruin everything they have with nauseating advertising (jumping, dancing, flashing ads. ) I'm not sure if it's just me or if it drives others away as well (I left my.yahoo because of it). Google advertising on their services is so subtle that you almost don't realize it's there, in fact, it's so cool that if you have the chance you may not turn it off (ads on GMail were almost spooky but with my personal Apps-for-your-domain with premier service I can turn them off) .

iGoogle has zero advertising where as Yahoo's my.yahoo has flashing, jumping stuff all over the place The lack of disruptive advertising or none at all helps Google build a better brand by not turning people off. Their Google Apps just keep getting better.

Google's other approach that has helped is that they deliver services as well as a platform for others to use. Their approach to SaaS for Google Apps-for-your-domain is open, flexible and allows integration with corporate user management tools, something that I have not seen anywhere else. And we have all heard the stories about how people leverage their other properties like Google Earth and Google Maps.

I guess I'm just goggle-eyed over Google :-)

Microsoft has to recoup their investment by:

• Turning Yahoo around (a task in itself)
• Find the synergies with existing MS properties
• Reduce duplication and overall costs of MS properties
• Grow the new behemoth (ask Yahoo how easy this is)
• Figure out what they want to be (if they don't know yet)
• Parley this purchase by using it to feed the fire of their (unknown to us) strategy and direction for world domination.
  

What are your thoughts.

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