More Yahoo Commentary

Well I know ... Yahoo + Microsoft or Microsoft + Yahoo === ????

I'm no Microsoft fan, but I'm starting to see reason in Microsoft's attempt from a tech point of view... I've been trying to read almost every article I see appear in my Bloglines feed reader about the possibilities. I was surprised to see how much work they've been doing together... I guess it shouldn't surprise me... they announce the intercommunication between Yahoo Messenger and MSN a few years ago (even though it only started working recently), Most of Yahoo's mobile development has been related to WiMob. And I was surprised how much work they've done with integrating ActiveX. So yes, I can seen why Microsoft is interested... Yahoo has done all the work for them, well at least from a web front.

But here is the flip side... we keep hearing about the 'Yahoo' side, but we don't here much from what Microsoft has to offer but a Name and $$$. So I can see why Microsoft is interested, but why would Yahoo. I know they are struggling against the Open Juggernaut Google. And yes Google on the web is probably equivalent to Microsoft on the desktop.. the difference is that they are openly public, free, and nice. Google is more than happy to share and to the public, well that makes them look like the good guys... but that is not the point of this post.

So yes, what does Yahoo have to gain.... but what does Yahoo have to lose... well basically there existence... If they merge/are acquired my Microsoft, it is only a matter of time before they and shadowed and the name forgotten, if they stay solo, where they could just fade out of existence... So what to do... well I think the bigger fear on both sides is the extras Yahoo has... Sites like Del.icio.us and Flickr among I'm assuming others, but those are the only two I use. While yes they are owned by Yahoo, and yes your Yahoo ID can be used and linked together, for the most part... they are totally separate entities. I like it that way.. I'm a Yahoo/MyYahoo/YahooMail/Y!Messenger user, and a Flickr and Del.icio.us user, but other than my knowledge... they really aren't connected and I like that... but now what happens if yahoo merges or disappears... will we loose them too?

So anyways... Again I'm seeing make issues with the marriage, not from a parent point but from the children... some how I don't see this as another Brady Bunch... just a bunch of disgruntled children.... I guess only time will tell.... that all said, while I'll be keeping all my accounts with Yahoo... I'll probably start slowly moving my world to Google (the open-friendly-juggernaut), so expect my mail, and flickr to move to Gmail and Picasa... still not sure what to do about Del.icio.us...