Microsoft to buy Yahoo?

Discussion in 'The Lounge - Off Topic' started by GiddyG, Feb 1, 2008.

  1. GiddyG

    GiddyG Terabyte Poster Gold Member

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    According to the Beeb, MS have bid $44.6bn for Yahoo... see here for more info...
     
  2. hippy

    hippy Kilobyte Poster

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    I just saw that as well, should make things interesting :blink
     
  3. GiddyG

    GiddyG Terabyte Poster Gold Member

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    It'll certainly hot up the battle between MS and Google... that is one hell of a lot of wonga to throw at something, especially if you're 'paying' 62% above the current market value...

    I can only assume it will drive a few more people who hate MS into the arms of Google.
     
  4. hippy

    hippy Kilobyte Poster

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    and 300 million to revamp yahoo. I guess microsoft cant be bothered to play games with them.
     
  5. Phoenix
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    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    hopfully this will help drive up competition against google
    who I personally feel have let standards slip the last 6 - 12 months..
     
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  6. GiddyG

    GiddyG Terabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Yup... it's possibly been a case of cash-rich, needing to spend it, and getting fingers into too many pies. As a result, many may feel they have let the core business slip...

    It will certainly be interesting, if MS are allowed to buy Yahoo. It could be another IE-type fight, especially if MS Vista starts to get shipped with 'Yahoo installed'. :twisted:
     
  7. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    I agree that google have let things slip, but this isn't just with them it seems to me that a lot of these places let standards slip once they have bought out the competition or their main rivals anyhow.

    Look at whats happened with Virgin/telewest from all accounts that I have heard Telewest was good but as soon as Vigin took over it nosedived.

    As Giddy said too many fingers in too many pies.
     
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  8. Phoenix
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    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    I'm not convinced they will keep the Yahoo brand
    I think they will swallow the IP, and use the acquisition to get rid of the third rate player, grabbing the user base over to MSN Live, which has equiv services to google (maps, email, blogs, etc etc)

    We shall see what happens if this goes ahead
     
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  9. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    To succeed over a competitor such as Google, you don't buy another competitor who also can't beat Google. I stopped using Yahoo years ago.

    Eh, another "brilliant" Microsoft decision. :rolleyes:
     
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  10. BosonJosh

    BosonJosh Gigabyte Poster

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    This is certainly an interesting move. However, I'm not convinced that buying Yahoo will make Microsoft any more relevant in the online world than they are now. Until and unless Microsoft/Yahoo improve their search, Google will still be the first place I go to search for something online. And, the fact is that neither Microsoft nor Yahoo alone have been able to compete with Google in online search for the last 7-8 years or so. Microsoft doesn't lack for money, so throwing more money and resources at the problem isn't likely to help, IMHO.
     
  11. sunn

    sunn Gigabyte Poster

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    Maybe / Maybe not...
    I'm not a Microsoft fan, and I am not a fan of this move; but I’ll play along :twisted:

    If MS takes out Yahoo, who’s left? I mean it’s not like Altavista is making a comeback! If it were my call, I’d run both search engines independently and see which can make a better business case. I don’t know if it's that they *need* the Yahoo brand (although it would help) as much as they might feel Yahoo is run better as a business comparred to the MS version (Live Search?).

    Either way, for those that are disliking Google, is MS the choice for you? Is there another?
     
  12. ThomasMc

    ThomasMc Gigabyte Poster

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    I thought yahoo died a couple of years back :eek: :D
     
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  13. richardw

    richardw Nibble Poster

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    Press release etc http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/default.mspx
    They already work with Yahoo on a number of things, eg both messenger services inter-operate
    I think they would keep the yahoo brand, & use it as their 'personal' brand, with 'live' being more business orientated.

    The combined operation would be about the size of google for online ads, but would also have other sources of income.
    eg Yahoo has auctions, shops etc, which google dont have.

    Imagine IE coming ready installed with live & yahoo toolbars to choose from, & sidebar gadgets on vista already installed for both.
     
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  14. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Neither Microsoft or Yahoo can figure out how to search better than Google does. I spend all day long finding sources for exam questions, including those related to Microsoft technologies... and Google searches Microsoft's own site better than Microsoft does. Yahoo stopped being a good search engine years ago. So how does Microsoft think they'll compete with Google on the search engine front by buying a company that ALSO can't figure out how to search better than Google?

    The only way Microsoft can surpass Google is for Microsoft to consume Google.
     
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  15. Theprof

    Theprof Petabyte Poster

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    That's true. I never really thought about it much until I cam across this article yesterday. In the past I've tried using yahoo, msn, Google, even Altavista and Google was far more reliable then any other search engines. I think one of the advantages Microsoft can gain from Yahoo is maybe other methods that yahoo has come up with and make them better or somehow combine theirs (Microsoft) and yahoo's search engine together to make one good one. And even then that's not guaranteed.
     
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  16. sunn

    sunn Gigabyte Poster

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    I’m not sure of that…
    I don’t remember IE being better than Netscape, but MS got it into the corporate world. People got used to what they use all day (i.e. work, school) so IE took the market. We can argue what Firefox is doing, but I'll leave that for now. :dry

    MS doesn’t need to take over Google, they need to make it the industry standard (perception is reality :hhhmmm). Ultimately, I think this will fail. Except for IE (and even that's questionable - shady business :dry), MS has pretty much failed in the web presence thing.
     
  17. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    The reason IE succeeded is because it is natively installed on every Windows-based OS (well, except over there in the EU).

    But Microsoft HAS tried to make their search the industry standard. MSN.com is the default home page for every IE installation, and Live Search is the default search for every IE installation... and they STILL can't get anyone to use it! The only reason the numbers for Microsoft's search are as high as they are is because some people are just too lazy to change it. Google's search capabilities far outshines Microsoft's. Had Netscape been head-and-shoulders better than IE, it would have survived... and that's why Firefox does so well... because most people consider it to be far better than IE, and they take the time to install it and make it their default browser... just like most people take the time to make Google their home page and/or default search engine.
     
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  18. Theprof

    Theprof Petabyte Poster

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    I agree with about the part where people get used to one thing and they stick to it. However in terms of which search engine is better, I find google much better. I think what BM was trying to say is that neither MS or yahoo are better then google, so making a decision to buy out yahoo obviously has something to do with the competition (google) but it does not seem like google is going to be defeated any time soon.

    In General Google Search engine is superior to Microsoft Live or Yahoo search engine, it's not really about what people prefer to use its more about what search engine gives you better search results. I was always using yahoo a while back and then it got to a point where I couldn't find the stuff that I needed, so I then tried google and it worked well with what I needed. You see my preference was yahoo but it wasn't cutting it for me so I switched to google because it was a better search engine not because I am used to it.
     
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  19. GiddyG

    GiddyG Terabyte Poster Gold Member

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    You can bet your bottom dollar that MS will not be throwing the $44bn - 62% over the market value - away lightly on this... they will have a plan, and some of it will involve 'prettying up' and hardening up the search elements of Yahoo/MSN/Live Search (whatever they decide to call it) and 'gently' pushing us all to use it through new OS installs.

    And there are people out there who will just stick with the default they get given, there will be those who like 'pretty' and there will be those who don't much care for Google.

    I assume that, if they get enough people interested, it might just give Google the wobbles... and, who knows? Maybe it will force Google's hand and they make their own bid.

    Only time will tell... should make damn interesting watching, seeing it all unfold though... :twisted:
     
  20. JonGlory

    JonGlory Byte Poster

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    A few people have said in this thread, that google's standards are slipping, what do you mean by that? There search results?
     
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