
Yahoo Goes Scorched Earth - nickb
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/10/yahoo-goes-scorched-earth/
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dhimes
If MS wants to kill Google, they should build an adblocker into IE that
defaults ON and updates regularly. I don't know why they haven't done that. I
don't use IE much, but I run FF with Adblocker Plus. One of the chief benefits
is that it keeps certain ads and sites from slowing down my surfing.

Of course, it'll probably kill my business...

~~~
ks
If MS blocked ads from Google, they would have to block their own ads too.

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dhimes
I agree that's likely; but they have a business they can sustain without ad
revenue. Google does not.

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apgwoz
He's got a point when he says, "But the health of the Internet demands a
counter balance to Google. Yahoo-Microsoft, given the current state of things,
is the only reasonable outcome."

I'm not one to much like Microsoft, but they are starting to come to market
with decent web products. Combine Microsoft and Yahoo and you've got a pretty
big web powerhouse that has a _chance_ at giving Google a run for it's money.
That is unless, like the article said, all of Yahoo's top people find new
jobs.

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Xichekolas
Thats the thing though. The vast majority of Yahoos seem to indicate that they
_won't work for Microsoft_ , even if it means a pay cut to go elsewhere. So in
reality, Microsoft-Yahoo merely means Microsoft with Yahoo's domain names.
Some of those are probably pretty valuable, but if Microsoft is to offer a
realistic challenge to Google, it needs brilliant engineers and ideas, not
domain names.

~~~
Hexstream
It's like the Triforce: if an evil one touches it, it divides into 3 parts,
one goes to the evil and the rest go to more deserving souls.

Forgive me...

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epall
How are any of these proposed mergers actually going to, y'know, work? As far
as I can see, the only compatible culture for Yahoo is Google, and anything
else is going to mean a _huge_ exodus. Of course, with all of the ex-googlers
roaming around SV, a few thousand more from Yahoo could make for a very
interesting startup climate!

~~~
drusenko
huge exodus is not the end of the world for microsoft... they get the traffic
and products, and the work force has reduced itself for them with no need to
pay severance or benefits.

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Readmore
I think he has taken this a little too far. I don't see Yahoo destroying their
market value with this 'test', they are just trying to stave off MS.

I've actually switched to Yahoo search in the last 3 months and find it better
than Google, it definitely seems to be updated more frequently and the results
are always as good, and sometimes better, than what I get at Google. There ads
aren't as well targeted apparently but I never click on Google ads either so I
don't really notice.

I think more than anything Yahoo needs a brand refresh. Like Ask did with the
'its the algorithm' commercials. I tried Ask based on those commercials, the
problem is Ask doesn't have the quality results that Yahoo does.

With the new open search platform and support for microformats I think Yahoo
is in a good technological position to take on Google, they just need better
marketing.

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wanorris
> I don't see Yahoo destroying their market value with this 'test', they are
> just trying to stave off MS.

1\. AOL is a giant, worthless pile of crap. Does anyone really think merging
with them is going to do anything positive for Yahoo?

2\. Yahoo has two sources of value. First, it's an incredibly successful
content brand, with sites like Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, and a boatload of
others. Second, it's the #2 player and only remotely plausible competitor to
Google in search and internet advertising.

Even if Yahoo keeps it's own search team, it won't matter, because Google will
really be the only source of keyword advertising on the internet. Even if
Yahoo were to own Google in search, Google would still get a lot of the money.

This move would effectively lock in Google's monopoly over keyword advertising
for good, and it would mean that Yahoo is giving up on being a technology
company to become a content company and embrace the slow, painful decline that
befell Netscape, Lycos, AOL, and other companies that lost the source of the
value they added to the internet.

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bls
AOL has a lot of very popular sites and brands, like Engadget and TMZ. The
AOL-branded sites are pretty much worthless, but there is a lot of value there
otherwise.

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pistoriusp
It makes me sad to see them going this route, even though the only things I've
used from the have been Flickr, and at times YUI.

