Google vs "MicroHoo?"

The hostile bid for Yahoo! by Microsoft is probably THE topic of the month, if not the year, so far. Google has responded aggressively asking regulators to block the deal on grounds of anti-competition and anti-monopoly grounds. (see NY Times article here).

It would seem ironic that Google with over 60% of the search marketshare would be worried about Yahoo! (14%) and MSN (3.5%). From my old post:


Is Google really that paranoid about a "MicroHoo?"

My opinion is "Yes" and "No".

"No", Google is not worried about the search business. Google still owns the PPC and SEO game. Yahoo!'s Panama platform is a step up but still very far away from the usability of Adwords. Microsoft's ad platform is a perpetual work in progress to put it mildly. Even if MicroHoo? can pull together a competitive advertising platform, their organic search technology is so far behind Google - who has something like 100,000 servers sweeping the internet every day and indexing everything in sight with the ultimate purpose of giving the users as relevant results as possible. MicroHoo? will still have to try to compete in this arena but they will be perpetually behind as Google continues to pump resources and research into this area. The search engine game is over. GOOGLE WON. Seriously, Google is locating itself next to power stations in order to ensure it has enough resources to power its needs!!!! That's forward planning.

But here's the "Yes". Google wants to be the default platform for all users: Gmail, Google Desktop, iGoogle, Google Documents, Google Checkout, Google Maps, YouTube, and many, many other "betas". So whatever you do, you can find it at Google - espcially in the future where we will always be online. And a Microsoft-Yahoo! merger would be a formidable competitor in THAT arena. Microsoft is already controlling 90% of users's operating systems, and Yahoo!, while it is not great in Search, knows how to build online communities and services (Y! Finance, Y! Mail, Y! Messenger, Flickr, Y! Travel, HotJobs, del.icio.us, Y! News, Y! Groups, Yada.. Yada... Yada.)

And Microsoft and Yahoo! together? What's the fit? Well, Yahoo could get quick distribution into the desktops (though this would still be considered MS anti-trust, no?). Yahoo users would also get MICROSOFT OFFICE ONLINE EDITION - Yahoo! has not entered that productivity suite arena yet. Microsoft is still printing money so it can finance a lot of expansion and development (including above mentioned organic search technology) and may be a power station or two! So while these two seem to have culture clash issues, there do seem to be some sort of synergy. Oops.. the dreadful "S" world. Maybe "marriage of (in)convenience" is a better description.

In any case, Google vs MicroHoo? is not about Search - it is about the future of "Consumer Computing Services". (Hahaha!!! "Consumer Computing Services" ... I just made that up! Sounds about right though.) You read it here first!