Micrahoo or Yacrosoft?

Author: Bill Marshall

Date Published: 12 September 2007, 12:00

Rumours are flying once again about a merger (or is it a takeover) between Microsoft and Yahoo, though it's not at all clear where the synergy, if any, might be between them.

It certainly doesn't seem to be in search, where the two ostensible members of the "big three" seem ever more like the "secondary two" as Google continue to increase their already dominant position. Microsoft certainly can't be happy about the poor response to Windows Live Search but are they ready to ditch it and return to the Inktomi-based results that MSN used to use prior to Yahoo buying it over. It would be a brave move given the hype that Live Search was given but with their share of the market down around 6% and their new operating system Vista proving unpopular with the public maybe they feel that drastic action is needed.

Perhaps Yahoo's strength in social networking is the attraction but there would be a lot of service duplication to jettison, their respective mail systems for one and their PPC advertising for another.

The next few months could be interesting...