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Meltdown at Yahoo


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#1 vava

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Posted 13 June 2008 - 08:13 AM

Yahoo announced a search deal with Google yesterday, and soon afterward, the stock plunged, along with some key executive departures. Almost 3.6 billion$ has been knocked off their market cap. ohmy.gif

So what does this mean? Is this is end of Yahoo? Will MS be able to fight google for on-line search advertising market share on their own, or are we stepping towards a full-fledged google monopoly on search and search engine advertising?

This is major news for anyone who's involved in internet related business, please share your thoughts....



#2 Sip

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Posted 13 June 2008 - 07:11 PM

Unfortunately, it's a typical case of having a bunch of money-driven investors (stock traders?) trying to force technological evolution to fit their capitalistic visions. Yahoo made the right choice of avoiding Microsoft's takeover and they made an even better choice of aligning themselves with Google.

But unfortunately, I think the damage might be far too large in terms of investor confidence, employee morale, and end-user impressions. It will be very hard for them to recover from all of this and I just hope this doesn't become a text-book example of a self-fulfilling prophecy (of Yahoo's demise).

#3 Harut

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Posted 14 June 2008 - 04:39 PM

was yahoo really doing that bad? 2nd search engine + so many cool tools couldn't keep them floating?

#4 Azat

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Posted 15 June 2008 - 08:28 PM

Yahoo is a done. you can stick a fork in it...

Yang is a fool for not taking the MS deal. He will get pushed out soon. The board was surrounded by his buddies from school and such who were they to be his "yes" men. Google is awesome. They came in and took the deal of the century. Yahoo deal is not much different form the AOL deal, and who remembers about AOL these days...

#5 vava

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Posted 15 June 2008 - 10:04 PM

Joe Nocera of the NYT has written an article lambasting Yang for not only refusing the MS deal, but signing a deal to become a mere "pawn of the most dominant company on the Internet." The article is written as a memo to Yang, and the subject line reads: "Shafting Yahoo’s Shareholders". Pretty strong statements.

It's clear that the Microsoft search deal sealed Yahoo's fate, so it's understandable they didn’t want to do it. But this Google deal is a last ditch effort to remain independent, and it may work for a while. But it seems that it'll erode their current business model in the medium to long term. As long as Yahoo is serving Google’s ads, they’ll see their own customers flee to Google rather than their own platform. Google has, in a sense, wiped out the #2 competitor - whether that gets by anti-trust issues we'll have to see how that plays out...

Google is unstoppable...

#6 Sip

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Posted 15 June 2008 - 10:43 PM

QUOTE (vava @ Jun 15 2008, 10:04 PM)
... Google is unstoppable...


In search, probably. The correct question to ask is not how to beat Google in the domains in which Google is well established, but what new domain is going to help create the next Microsoft- and Google- scale giant to emerge.

The interesting thing is that it is most likely something that we don't even know we desparately need (yet) biggrin.gif

#7 Harut

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Posted 15 June 2008 - 11:12 PM

QUOTE (Sip @ Jun 15 2008, 09:43 PM)
In search, probably. The correct question to ask is not how to beat Google in the domains in which Google is well established, but what new domain is going to help create the next Microsoft- and Google- scale giant to emerge.

The interesting thing is that it is most likely something that we don't even know we desparately need (yet) biggrin.gif


ok, sip, spill the beans... smile.gif

#8 vava

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Posted 16 June 2008 - 01:21 PM

QUOTE (Sip @ Jun 16 2008, 12:43 AM)
In search, probably. The correct question to ask is not how to beat Google in the domains in which Google is well established, but what new domain is going to help create the next Microsoft- and Google- scale giant to emerge.

The interesting thing is that it is most likely something that we don't even know we desparately need (yet) biggrin.gif


I'm half expecting you to add "Na-na-na-na-naaaa-na" and stick your tongue out at us tongue_ss.gif

QUOTE (Harut @ Jun 16 2008, 01:12 AM)
ok, sip, spill the beans... smile.gif


yes.gif


I'm not sure of any new "domains" - but there are several possibilities for a showdown between google and MS.
The obvious possibility, would be that google's efforts (with the plethora of platform independent google apps being published & beta'd) are towards a scenario that renders the specific OS irrelevant. By creating a layer above the OS upon which most productivity applications are run, it will no longer be pertinent whether you're running windows/linux/mac etc. That "layer" is essentially your browser, acting as a sort of "virtual machine" that hosts and runs all that you need. This supports the future paradigm for the for most popular applications, which seems to be web-based; and with the advent of Google Gears, users don't necessarily need to be constantly connected to the net to use them - pretty nifty' huh?

The natural target are the key Microsoft franchises Windows & Office. So what I think we're seeing (and this is from an outside, casual non-web developer's perspective) is the "gearing" up for the next war in IT, MS vs. Google.

Edited by vava, 16 June 2008 - 01:23 PM.


#9 Sip

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Posted 16 June 2008 - 06:59 PM

Ironically enough, Google is shifting the computing paradigm back to the days of the "dumb terminals" attached to central super computers. But now the difference is there is no longer a "centeral super computer" but a massive cloud which the users see as "google". Google is definitely pushing the cloud computing envelope which it is probably not a big surprise given the CEO is from Sun who for years was trying to scream the "network is the computer" ... "the network is the computer" ...

Vava you are definitely right about there being huge showdowns between Microsoft and Google. Microsoft has built an empire on selling software packages for the PC where as now Google is going to give it away for free. There has not been a mention of a "Google operating system" but we have already seen glimpses of it in the market with ultra cheap linux based machines that do the basics ... email, office applications, browsing, multimedia, etc. As you also said Vava, that is hitting Microsoft at the two fundamental pillars: Operating Systems and Office software.

What I was saying is ok OS is belongs to MS and Search is belongs to Google. What is the next big thing going to be smile.gif Face-book is definitely on the way to grab the social networking arena and they have had a number of high profile people moving from Google to there.

The other battle in which Microsoft will again be a loser in I think is the mobile platforms area. I have not seen anything really exciting coming out of Microsoft since the PocketPC which is now Windows Mobile 6. Apple currently has the upper hand while Google is sure to make HUGE splashes with the upcoming Android release. There is yet again Google coming in with a free OS, complete Open Source development tools and infrastructure to really take over the mobile phone market. And if you are a hardware vendor, why would you try to license super expensive software from Apple or Microsoft when you can have a share of the Google pie for free????

#10 Sip

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Posted 16 June 2008 - 07:05 PM

QUOTE (vava @ Jun 16 2008, 01:21 PM)
I'm half expecting you to add "Na-na-na-na-naaaa-na" and stick your tongue out at us tongue_ss.gif


Who am I? .. just a nobody biggrin.gif Maybe one day when I do in fact do something that will truely be unique, new, amazing, and ground breaking, I'll have earned the right to "Na-na-na-naaa" someone. tongue.gif

Hower I must state that I use Microsoft software on a daily basis (both traditional OS, occasional office stuff, mobile platform stuff) as well as Yahoo services (email and messenger etc) so to me, they are all very important right now (competition is always good -- I personally do NOT want to see Google be the only choice).

Edited by Sip, 16 June 2008 - 07:09 PM.


#11 Azat

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Posted 16 June 2008 - 10:48 PM

QUOTE (Sip @ Jun 16 2008, 05:59 PM)
...
The other battle in which Microsoft will again be a loser in I think is the mobile platforms area. I have not seen anything really exciting coming out of Microsoft since the PocketPC which is now Windows Mobile 6. Apple currently has the upper hand while Google is sure to make HUGE splashes with the upcoming Android release. There is yet again Google coming in with a free OS, complete Open Source development tools and infrastructure to really take over the mobile phone market. And if you are a hardware vendor, why would you try to license super expensive software from Apple or Microsoft when you can have a share of the Google pie for free????



Free? for real? the amount of data that they gather on the users is worth billions.


#12 Sip

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Posted 17 June 2008 - 12:17 AM

QUOTE (Azat @ Jun 16 2008, 10:48 PM)
Free? for real? the amount of data that they gather on the users is worth billions.


No doubt there is heavy logging going on in everything you do on the Internet (by everyone) but I don't think the Android platform collects or sends any more data about the user to the service providers than the other alternatives from Apple, RIM, or Microsoft. But I could be wrong ... I am not too familiar with the internals other than it is linux based (the source code is all available for free so at least everything they do at the platform level is much better known than the other alternatives -- any idea what Apple is doing inside the iPhone?).

But you are right in that the platform is clearly meant to push all sorts of other google services which may be quite profitable (but still no one really knows where that profit is really going to come from other than ads ads ads) biggrin.gif

Edited by Sip, 17 June 2008 - 12:19 AM.


#13 shiner

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Posted 17 June 2008 - 03:21 PM

Let's start a software company

#14 vava

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Posted 18 June 2008 - 11:22 AM

QUOTE (shiner @ Jun 17 2008, 05:21 PM)
Let's start a software company


yes.gif

Although there are those who argue, "if a piece of software is worth doing, Google is already doing it"... Not sure if that holds water or not.

On another note, Adobe has also release an application that allows the browser to become the primary application layer (as opposed to the OS). Although it's still fairly new, it looks like it's gaining a bit of traction. Here's a linke to Adobe AIR, and here's a quote from their site:

QUOTE
With the Adobe® AIR™ runtime, you can deliver branded rich Internet applications (RIAs) on the desktop that give you a closer connection to your customer.

Adobe AIR uses the same proven, cost-effective technologies used to build web applications, so development and deployment is rapid and low risk. You can use your existing web development resources to create engaging, branded applications that run on all major desktop operating systems.





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