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On the heels of Microsoft threatening Yahoo with three weeks to accept its acquisition offer--or else face a proxy fight and lower price--some radical scenarios swept across the so-called Microhoo landscape this week.
The first big surprise was news that Yahoo is trying out search advertisements from Google, Yahoo's largest rival and, for that matter, Microsoft's, too--at least when it comes to online aspirations.
Later came two unconfirmed reports: Yahoo is considering absorbing AOL in exchange for a big investment from AOL parent Time Warner, and Microsoft might get some help from News Corp. to acquire Yahoo, a move that could provide acquisition funding and add News Corp.'s MySpace.com into the mix.
Through the flurry of activity, Google's competitive threat has remained constant, if not stronger and more stable.
If your head is spinning, you're not alone, which is why we've at least attempted to clear things up with this visual guide to the saga, which is only likely to get more confusing. The Yahoo board, for its part, is expected to meet Friday to weigh the different scenarios.
Of course, every analyst in the world--even those with more journalistic bents here at CNET News.com--has been trying to make sense of the moves. Some took on the question of whether Microsoft's $31 per share price undervalues Yahoo. Others wondered if Yahoo's Jerry Yang can dance with the heavyweight champ from Redmond.
Making less noise, surprisingly, are Yahoo customers, although they did chime in in response to Jim Kerstetter's blog about the apparent lack of hand-wringing among the Yahoo faithful. "I am outraged! " said one News.com reader. "I've been with Yahoo since 1995. I also use Microsoft products. I just can't stand the idea of MS owning everything."
Another reader opined, however, that customers don't care about a possible Microsoft acquisition because Yahoo has become irrelevant, because this will likely be the "one-two" punch to take out Microsoft, and the Internet business has become "just that, business."
"The passion for technology firms is fading away. The thrill is gone. The love has evaporated. The only emotions left are dislike and/or hatred," the reader wrote.
Be sure to stay tuned to continuous Microhoo coverage as it evolves.
Insecurity complex
Perhaps a bit overshadowed by the merger news, the annual RSA security conference drew big crowds this week in San Francisco. While some felt the confab was a little slow in terms of breaking news, it featured some hot topics such as cybersecurity, cryptography, and warrantless wiretapping.
Symantec CEO John Thompson kicked things off with a few predictions: that malicious software will outnumber legitimate software, increasing the need for so-called white listing; that identity management will grow "beyond the enterprise" and start to include every customer in the world; and that digital rights management will be become a reality for all content, not just music and video.
Microsoft took advantage of the security crowd to release its new Stirling security suite in public beta. The Stirling security package, the next wave of its Forefront software, offers one management console, enabling administrators to push policies out across PCs, servers, and other computers that access the Internet.
- More from News.com on this story's topics
Web 2.0
Security
Acquisitions and mergers
Yahoo
Microsoft
Google
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Yahoo! Inc.,
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RSA Security Inc.,
Week in review
- yahoo coverage
- too much yahoo coverage on the site guys, its turning into yahoo overload. keep up the good work, n3td3v
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- Too much coverage?!?
- How about all the SAME coverage. Almost sounds like a joke: How many c/net "news writers" does it take to report on a SINGLE story? Every G'damn one of 'em!!!! How's that for a punch line....too bad it is also SO true. Not only that, but all we hear is the same (even mention in THIS story) information in a different format (picture flowcharts?!?)or by a different author. All the while wasting our time with, what I have to describe as, childish nursery titles. We have a Microhoo here We have a Yahoogle there Here a Microspace, there a Microspace, EVERYWHERE a Microspace...... It sickens me to the core! I completely understand that if this were a REAL news media outlet (don't lie to me, and the rest if us and say it is more than what it is)this type of "reporting' wouldn't pass muster with REAL editors. Here, it does, and it will. I like the "news" about technology.....but this is old hate, stale news that is akin to: NEWSFLASH: New York Harbor still home of Statue of Liberty! No kidding? The old gal hasn't skipped off for a drink at a pub DC? Wonderful news! Now, if only it could be repeated for weeks on end, and in every way imaginable....by every writer on staff, and off. Thank you for forcing me to digest another heaping load of NO NEW NEWS. Thank you very much for that! Now I sound exactly like so many other posters I see on the net. I am sorry, so,so,so, sorry....but I can't take this anymore! How on Earth can you?
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- What about GooYa?
- You know - like Boo-ya?
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- shows technology is run by lawyers!
- no wonders they say - science comes first, then repeatition is engineering and then on the third waves when it hits technology it must be lawyers that take on. The capitalist 'gundas' - pirates of silicon valley! I heard someone saying she was very happy to not to have internet and TV for two months when she moved. She could give time to herself rather than contributing to fill pockets of these pirates.
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- Week in review: Microhoo and no one else, yay!
- It's just a matter of time until Microsoft buys Yahoo! and shuts all the mouths that every year ignorantly predict Microsoft's end, LOL.
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