Voices for Innovation

If you haven't had an opportunity, I recommend checking out the recent article posted on the VFI - In the News section from CNN - "Google's New Headache".  David Kirkpatrick of Fortune discusses how Microsoft and Yahoo are the only two companies who can combine to give Google a run for its money.   Kirkpatrick points out that "as wonderful as Google is, the world and the entire Internet and media industry needs for its power to be countered and, if possible, matched. Genuine competition drives innovation. Without, everybody loses."  Simply put, competition give us choice.

I'd like to hear what you think about this latestest development.

 What an interesting thought, Amanda.  I am going to now check out that article.  Thanks for the insight!

 Good to see Google getting nervous...

i think microsoft's initiative in their bid for yahoo is great.

once upon a time, the yahoo community & yahoo messenger used to be great tools of communication after people realised that ICQ & AIM were just useless.
but then, microsoft came out with messenger, hotmail, now windows live, live spaces etc...
the whole msn network & windows live is much like what yahoo used to be, but a whole lot better.

there are people i know & continue to get to know who still use yahoo & ask me if i will get on yahoo to speak to them & i simply reply with, "i use messenger, if you want to talk, add me" i do my best to sway them over, but at the end of the day, with the magic of programming, i can now add yahoo contacts to my messenger list, however much of the functionality is not there & so, more incentive for them to move over :)

i'm not a big supporter of takeover's & selling out, however, when you can clearly see that someone else is simply doing it better & you are losing value, well, why let it get any worse than it already is?

the bid from Microsoft is certainly nothing short of generous & i hope they do exercise their right to go directly to the shareholders, as ultimately at the end of the day, it is the shareholders who show the true value of an organisation, if they have no confidence, then it matters not what any of the management do or try to.

so there's my hands down support for Microsoft, being a Partner it's also in my best interest for them to continue to innovate & create strategic alliances.

i will be most amused however to see who tries to start another lawsuit, claiming anti-competition, or many of those other ridiculous reasons...

afterall, Yahoo & it's shareholders can do what they like, Microsoft isn't holding a gun to their head, they are simply just waving the dollars at them, they can either choose to take it, or continue with what they are doing & hope for the best.

as for Google, there's nothing google has that really amazes me, much like apple, Microsoft provides everything i need & i'm looking forward the official launch of the Zune in Australia.

You would have thought Apple would be smart enough to include an FM tuner in the ipod, but oh well, yet another gold star for Microsoft's report card :)

 Of note recently, re Google, on the U.S. side:

 1) Google was not awarded any of the 700MHz wireless spectrum, so the company will not be a direct wireless provider and will instead have to continue forging partnerships with traditional wireless telecom.

2) Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been spending a lot of time talking to the press about problems he foresees in a Microsoft-Yahoo merger.  What this says to me is that the problems would be Google's in that the company would now face a more formidable competitor in search and search advertising.  Schmidt isn't exactly being consistent if he says Google-DoubleClick represents valuable synergies, but Microsoft-Yahoo doesn't. 

As you point out, I find it interesting that Google gushed about how beneficial a Google/ Double-Click deal would be for consumers and now they are working so aggresively against even the prospect of a MS / Yahoo deal.   What they really oppose is any attempt to slow their march toward complete ownership of all online search and a MS/ Yahoo deal would make that goal more difficult.   I find it more interesting that they say they are concerned about a MS/ Yahoo deal and what it might mean for competition while at the same time they are working on a deal to own all of Yahoo's paid search advertising.   Together, such a deal means Google would be approaching control of 90% of all paid search in the US and it  would be taking the two largest search firms in the US down to one.  Not good for consumers if you ask me.

Business customers -- advertisers -- should be especially concerned about Google having such a large market share for paid search.  If you want your product promoted on the Internet, you will have to deal with Google, and this means navigating a nebulous keyword auction program.  Small businesses have also found that they disappear down the searches produced by Google under various and unclear circumstances.  If your business relies in Internet traffic, you don't want to be in a position where Google giveth and taketh away.

On the consumer side, privacy and tracking are also an issue.  Not too long ago, a glitch on gmail allowed one user to access other users account info.

In any event, a Google-Yahoo collaboration seems a non-starter: basically illegal.  A combined Microsoft-Yahoo still trails Google. 

I thought that I'd bring up the piont of view that Microsoft's offer to purchase Yahoo is essentially about closing down Yahoo and offering share holders a viable alternative. Sure Microsoft may get a 10 to 20% Yahoo consumer increase out of the deal, but in my opinion not much more then that could be anticipated from a business growth point of view.

I wanted to see what people within the forum would think of essentially what Microsoft would do with Yahoo services, if anything at all for that matter, or can Office Live for example, move in to take the market share? 

PBisson is asking the $64,000 question.  The success of any deal -- for Microsoft, customers, partners, consumers, etc. -- will depend a lot on the details of execution.  How does Microsoft integrate Yahoo into its operations?  What does it keep, what does it leave alone, what does it abandon?  And how will these actions compel Google and others to respond?

A lot of the answer will be in the fine details of decision making and operations.  For instance, will new synergies by achieved through aQuantive and Yahoo that add luster to display advertising (and in growing markets such as mobile and IPTV)?  For VFI, I wonder how changes, even churn, will create opportunities for small tech, integrators, ISVs.  Google seems less attuned to small tech partners, and so more Internet real estate for Microsoft could help small tech.  Thoughts? 

DELevin thanks for the response. New to the forum, I'm probing a little and figure references that I should read up on, I'd appreciate it. I figure there are also a couple of other topics I might look into at the forum and imagine I'll see you there.

It looks like Google has something else to worry about now – Live Search Cashback.  As a frequent online consumer this is a pretty nice deal.  You can get cash back on your online purchases just by using Live Search.  It seems pretty easy, sign up – use live search – order online and get cash back.  I can only wonder what Google thinks.  Check the details: The Empire Strikes Back: Our Analysis Of Microsoft Live Search Cashback.

On this issue, Michael Arrington at TechCrunch posted thoughtfully about search and the need to drive innovation through competition:

"Search Monopoly And A Healthy Internet Are Mutually Exclusive"

The occasion is a debate with Tim O'Reilly, who seems happy to let Google just own all of search / search advertising.  Arrington concludes: "Microsoft can’t ignore the online advertising market, it’s just too big and important. And we need to be behind them in this effort, because if Microsoft and Yahoo lose interest, we’ll be stuck with a monopoly, and the Internet will suffer. Competition drive innovation. Competition drives prices down. To wish this away is irresponsible."

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/25/the-importance-of-a-competitive-search-market/

The Financial Times, the highly respected UK-based publication, does not mince words in its editorial against the Yahoo-Google deal.  It calls for government intervention in a deal that hurts competition, and hence innovation.

See "A Real Yagoohoogle."

Will this affect partners/the Microsoft isv/var ecosystem?  Maybe not immediately or directly, but it is worth considering.  Businesses of all sizes will be squeezed when it comes to online advertising.  There are other implications as well.

A side note: I use a lot of Microsoft software and services, and serve clients that are MSFT shops, naturally, but I also use a wide range of technologies from other providers, including Google.  Recently Google re-indexed and changed its algorithm -- the famed "Google dance" -- and suddenly previously returned, obvious search results disappeared; e.g., if I enter "gamefly wii metroid" into a search engine, I want to be taken  to Gamefly's page about the game Metroid for the Wii platform; it used to happen and then stopped happening on Google, so I switched to Live Search.  Now I use both.  If Google squeezes everyone out, that option will no longer exist.  The Internet takes a step back.  It's that simple. 

Check this article out “AT&T Speaks Out Against Yahoo-Google Partnership” – it looks like another player is entering the Yahoo-Google game.

Major internet advertiser is sounding the alarm about a Yahoo-Google ad deal. AT&T publicly warned that Yahoo's deal to start replacing some of its own search ads with those supplied by Google could hurt advertisers by driving up prices.

AdAge.com’s Ira Teinowitz continues to highlight AT&T’s concern – one that I'm sure many others have:

"The result would be less choice and higher prices for advertisers -- especially smaller-scale advertisers that do not have the heft or resources to ensure the best deal possible," he said.

Read the Entire Article

Try Trillian and you can contact everyone no matter if one uses ICQ, Yahoo, AIM, or MSN. The program takes very little resources, actually less then having just one of the IM's running. I have a client that has customers all over the world and they use Trillian to keep in contact with customers that all use different IM's

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