Open up today’s Techmeme and you will see this splashed across almost throughout the entire page. Because this is HUGE news. Microsoft has withdrawn its plans for buying out Yahoo, more popularly known as Microhoo in the speculative blogosphere. So what does it mean finally for us?
Does it mean that we can actually breathe a sigh of relief before some other giant (Google) makes the next move? Or has Yahoo got some other plans up its sleeve? Almost 3 months after the initial speculations of Microsoft’s plan of acquisition of Yahoo, and almost a 16 billion $ increase in market value, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer released his statement that it was withdrawing its offer of acquiring Yahoo. And now that the beans have been spilled, speculations are making the rounds.
Of course, most of them surround the Big Goog tying up with Yahoo to do things OpenSource. Also under the radar is the question of how Yahoo’s shares would turn out on Monday when the markets open. And unless there is a huge miracle, the stock-prices are expected to decline drastically. And well, as Techcrunch states in their post here, if Yahoo tanks badly, Microsoft can even be back with a lower bid. Hmm, so we just can’t count out Microsoft out as yet.
Indexed below are the sites which have covered the entire chapter from every possible angle and every possible aspect.
Yahoo Responds: “The distraction of Microsoft’s unsolicited proposal now behind us”
Breaking: Microsoft Corporation Rescinds Offer For Yahoo Inc
Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo!
Yahoo! Issues Statement in Response to Microsoft
Guessing Yahoo’s Opening Stock Price
OK, so what’s Microsoft’s plan B?
Email From Steve Ballmer To All Microsoft Employees
Ballmer to Yang: How stupid are you?
YHOO and MSFT: Jerry Yang should be fired
by Sujoy on April 22, 2008
You see the following logo on the Google Homepage today. It is 22nd April, the Earth day and Google is celebrating it.
The interesting thing is, Yahoo is also showing it’s green colors. Should we say, it’s “green with envy”. LOL. See the logo below.
Anyway, Google has many plans rolled out for the Earth Day. Google ‘s Official blog reports the following:
1. A Google Desktop gadget called the Energy Saver. It is a plugin for the Google Desktop and will manage power settings for your computer and turn it to sleep when you are not using it for a long period.
2. The post also tells us of many other blogs who are celebrating Earth Day . One of them is a story of the reduction of paper use by using the online ( read Google docs) alternative.
It’s 9 pm, and HBO is showing “An Inconvenient Truth” here in India. It is indeed high time that we all geared up and acted positively to make our planet Earth a better place to live in . From today onwards, I shall be actively blogging about environmental issues and also about news from all across the world related to it. Do remember to check out the category GREEN to stay updated with my posts. And what better to call this little project as “Project Green”. So all my posts pertaining to Project Green will be indexed on a single page as well, and expect PG on the titles. Peace! Green Peace!!
And to all my readers, and also to all who do not read this: Happy Earth Day 
by Sujoy on March 12, 2008
Remember the thing called Opensocial that Google came up with when rival Facebook’s fraction of a fraction was bought by Microsoft, making them worth 15 billion $. But that’s like ages ago. The current buzz is that Yahoo, which was about to be acquired by Microsoft, is now joining forces with the Opensocial Alliance. According to NY Times, Yahoo is considering to join the alliance which will enable it to create more tools and services which will work across many platforms. The Opensocial gang as of now consists of Google, Friendster, hi5,Ning, MySpace Orkut,Xing and many others. If Yahoo joins, that would make Facebook the odd one out. Clearly, if Facebook continues to go independent with their own API, and the rest of the entire Web 2.0 following Opensocial’s API, it would not be long for facebook to eithr face its doom. But then, World’s youngest billionaire – Mark Zuckenberg isn’t that dumb, yeah? If Yahoo for sure joins Opensocial, Facebook might get forced to switch to Opensocial API for its applications. Finally, we might get to see a uniform distribution of API for application developers. Yippee!!
Related Post:Yahoo Plans to Join OpenSocial Alliance?
Image Courtesy:Thomas Hawk
by Sujoy on February 5, 2008
Yeah, I know. Yet another half fried post on the entire episode of Microsoft’s bid for the slumping Internet giant Yahoo for a whooping $44.6 billion. Clearly, Microsoft is desperate enough to acquire Yahoo. But amongst all this, the question that remains is, is Google worried? Let’s chase it point by point as to what this deal could bring to the table, if it actually gets finalized. What could a “Microhoo” actually mean?
It means that the 600 million combined user-base of Hotmail (Windows Live Mail) and Yahoo could well be way ahead of what Gmail has. But as Scoble indicates, is there any solid reason for Google to be really worried about this deal? Of course, officials at Google aren’t very happy with the hostile bidding of Microsoft over Yahoo.
David Drummond, Senior VP at Google Inc. writes what this deal could actually churn out if Microsoft continues its legacy of monopolising Operating Systems and Internet Browsers. What if Microsoft loses all business ethics, once it acquires Yahoo, and uses it solely for its good by forcing users to use its Web-Based Services, integrated into Mail, IM, PhotoSharing et al.
The war will still continue with OpenSource technologies adopting everything Google, but this deal is a clear indication of the challenge that Google faces. Clearly, Google with the Android campaign is steering its way towards finding a huge presence or rather dominance in the Mobile World. And with the presence of Web Applications like Google Maps and Youtube, I believe Microsoft even if they acquire Yahoo, will have a long long way to go.And now the second question that emerges is, what if..ahem! Google outbids?
Image Courtesy:johnnie.maneiro
