Official Thread: Google, Yahoo & Microsoft Mergers & Partnerships

[Vintage]

I'm sure you've all heard about Microsoft and Newscorp's bid for Yahoo. What do you think?

[David Tan]

Too good to refuse? Although Microsoft getting bigger is a scary thought. Competition is good for consumers.

[Tephus]

Yes. Competition is good. And I've been a fan of Yahoo for quite awhile. It isn't until recently that I switched to Google.

[David Tan]

Cuil - Black Sheep Baby of Google's Search Engine
Defections from the google camp, has led to their search architect starting their own search engine, Cuil.com. They say it's faster, and it index more pages than google. Not really. Doesn't cover alot of keywords and they're still developing but forgoing putting the 'beta' tag.

Which begs the question, if you build a better mousetrap, search engine, will you be able to make money and for the time being, be a 'small' google?

Personally, I think you can, but the risk is too high, since the capital to start is tremendous but the profits can only come much later.

Better off spend time, money and effort on other better initiatives. But then, it's good to create more competition.

Why can't someone create a search engine just for a city or state, where pages and sites listed are the ones with businesses, residents, and all things related to the city.

Updated August 04 2008
Cool posted about why there's no real competitors to Google's search engine

Updated August 06 2008
Post by David Tan about Yahoo recount of votes sees higher dissatisfaction than previously reported after Jerry Yang and 4 other directors voted back to the board. Still not enough to get Yahoo sold to Microsoft.

[Tephus]

Actually, it's Cuill with two Ls. From the results I got, I think Google's are more relavent. But good thing they're not just a search engine with nothing more than a cosmetic upgrade.

[ZachW]

According to TechCrunch, their index is ten times smaller than Google, despite them claiming otherwise. And their site is down currently due to 'overwhelming interest'.

David- They can't create a search engine for a city or state because Google already does a better job at that (and the world). It's really hard to start a new search engine without something really revolutionary.

[SpaceBOT]

I don't quite like the 2-3 column display method. It's hard to read. Plus, many keywords did not return any results.

But bear in mind, this is their first release. It'll only get better, I suppose.

Search engines are really tough to maintain, needs tons of money so, maybe David's right, it'll be a tough sell..

But then, some big company like microsoft may buy them up just for the technology. That could be their game plan.

[seo_panda]

I tried cuil.com and its database is certainly not as big as Google as for many searches it returned no result although Google was.

Any Search Engine wanting to overtake Google need two things in my view :
i) Time factor - Nobody can overtake Google overnight
ii) It has to offer new things in a better way.


Moreover i think Yahoo is the only real competitor to Google right now .

[SpaceBOT]

There isn't a real competitor to google right now because there are none that have a good enough search engine.

You need 2 things:

1. Technology, ie, a better search engine with better search results. This requires a lot of smart people and a lot of money, which brings me to the second point.

2. MONEY - to run and keep a search engine, you need tons and tons of resources like hundreds of millions of dollars.

So, the only threat I can see is Microsoft if they can utilize their resources properly and set up a separate company just to concentrate on the search business... tie it up on all their OS software, etc...

[GreedIsGood]

I agree with Cool's second point. A lot of start ups fail to scale their product to the overwhelming demand, like Twitter and end up losing a lot of members. Then again, if you have a truly revolutionary technology, you will have no problem finding investors.

[David Tan]

The five yahoo directors have been reelected to the board, which ofcourse includes Jerry Yang.

But it with the 'no' votes ranging from 30-40% for all the five directors, it shows alot of dissatisfaction, thus encouraging Carl Icahn to further push for change.

Yahoo shares is down by 30% after Microsoft has stop dealing with Yahoo. Reducing Yahoo's value by $20 billion. No wonder shareholders are fumming.

[SpaceBOT]

Ooh, too bad.. I am a Yahoo shareholder...albeit a few shares... haha...

[David Tan]

Microsoft to fight against the Yahoo & Google partnership. Yahoo jilted by Microsoft, runs to Google's arms and is then attacked by Microsoft, concerned about... monopoly issues. Hah hah hah! Talk about being hypocritical. Ofcourse Microsoft has a wealth of experience dealing with US government regulators and dealing with 'monopoly' court fights. Google's still new in these antitrust matters.

Precursor Video discussion on the Google Yahoo partnership

[David Tan]

Google has pulled out of it's partnership with Yahoo in placing Google ads in Yahoo's pages. A Justice Department lawsuit prompted the pullout and although advertisers got what they wanted, to stop the partnership between Google and Yahoo, the pullout is clearly making Yahoo weaker. And as such, advertisers are dreading the consequence of the pullout... a stronger Google. With it's competitor weaken, Google will still benefit either way.

Yahoo is opening it's doors once again for Microsoft to propose a deal, making Yahoo look even cheaper.

[HellSpAwN]

i think its good move......

[HenryDoren]

Not good, not good. Too much evil power in one place ;(

[PatricCoverman]

No less than the 901 is actually a tall order considering it is the best in its class and most others have moved on to 10" or larger or a significant higher price. The depending on what age range you're dealing with the Disney/Asus Netpal could be a good alternative. It has same size screen and just a little larger casing/body. It uses SSD and is being sold at a good price.
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