What will happen if Microsoft buys Yahoo! 
February 1st, 2008
The news broke earlier today – Microsoft is making a pass at Yahoo!. What would this mean for consumers? Here is my guess:
- Zimbra becomes the platform an online offlice product resembing Google docs but fitting into Office Live.
- Microsoft becomes a leading content producer, cross-polinating their MSNBC stake with online material including video, with everything from news journalism, to entertainment.
- With the talent imported from Yahoo!, Microsoft slowly takes on a more credible R&D role and actually begins listening to developers.
- Microsoft gets into a host of other service businesses including Travel, Financial Services, and eCommerce enablement.
I wonder what the E.U. and antitrust groups will have to say about this. In any case, it will probably take upwards of a year to sort all this out. Does anybody have any other opinions on this?
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This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 1:16 pm and is filed under business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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February 1st, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Awesome logo man. =)
On paper the deal makes perfect sense. Yahoo’s assets would compliment Microsoft’s. Both have some of the best talent in the world. Both are becoming irrelevant in their respective competative markets.
Culturally it could be a total disaster. I would imagine a large number of Yahoo employees would opt for Google. The remaining will be odds on many fronts from transparency to technology. The integration of the platforms and product suites will very likely turn out to be a total failure handing the mighty Google even more customers. Just imagine: PHP.NET -ugh. Vista took years to get off the ground feature incomplete and buggy. Yahoo is still working on getting single sign on for all its acquisitions.
Its all too early to really know, it certainly would be a massive shakeup and perhaps just what Microsoft (and Yahoo) needs. Or Google.
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
[…] MICROSOFT (Yahoo font) […]
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Great article: you really imagine a possibility that MS will listen to it’s customers? I found your site while looking for images made for this topic. See the ones I made here: http://webdesignbysteve.com/blog/?p=57. Join me in a logo contest for Microsoft/Yahoo: http://webdesignbysteve.com/blog/?p=58.
February 5th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
[…] « What will happen if Microsoft buys Yahoo! What would Microsoft do with Zimbra? […]