KEY POINTS:
After Saturday's big news of Microsoft's massive bid for Yahoo, just about anyone who is interested in the internet has weighed in to give their opinion on what the tie-up of software leader with web giant might mean.
Check out some of the discussion on Slashdot.
It has
to be said that the tone of the press coverage around the world has been pretty grim - many observers see problems with this deal ranging from gaining regulatory approval to merging the differing cultures of the two organisations.
Now Google, the internet player Microsoft is hoping Yahoo can help it tackle, has given its own view and not surprisingly, it's not impressed by Microsoft's play.
In a message on the official Google blog, David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer at Google, basically says Microsoft can't be trusted not to repeat its anti-competitive behaviour of the past.
"Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the internet that it did with the PC? While the internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies - and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets," he wrote.
As the New York Times reports, there are serious concerns that the proposed acquisition, launched at a time of increasing economic uncertainty in the US, will hurt the chances of small, innovative internet start-ups trying to establish themselves.
"...as the stock market lolls and an outsider, Microsoft, bids to gobble up a company that once was one of Silicon Valley's crown jewels, the region's innovators and corporate stewards appear to be growing ever more anxious. That trait is most visible in the top executives at public companies whose eyes are trained on parallel declines in consumer confidence and public equities."
Then there's the regulatory question. As Reuters reports, there is serious bad blood between Microsoft and regulators in Europe that may prive a roadblock in the deal getting regulatory approval across the EU countries.
The Mercury News has an interesting piece on the Darwinian culture of Silicon Valley and also carries an opinion piece on the deal from Silicon Valley insider Dean Takahashi.
"This is a lot like the replay of the marriage of Compaq and Hewlett-Packard, where the idea seemed good but took years to play out," Takahashi writes.
And that hits the nail on the head I think. This deal is going to take a lot of time to come together, merging the various teams, each fiercely protective of their patches, is going to be a long, traumatic affair.
In the world of web development, there's little time for the politics of big business mergers. That's why the big ideas, like Youtube and Facebook start in small businesses that either grow big or are acquired by larger companies.
Microsoft has made plenty of those types of acquisitions. This is something new for the Redmond giant, a play that could determine its future.
