Google calls Microsoft's 'hostile' bid for Yahoo troubling

A Microsoft-Yahoo merger could threaten the openness on which the Internet is based, a Google executive says.

Microsoft's $44.6 billion "hostile" bid "raises troubling questions," writes David Drummond, Google Chief Legal Officer, expresses cynicism in a blog posted on Sunday

"Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies--and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets," he writes. "Could the acquisition of Yahoo allow Microsoft--despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses--to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet?"

[TruthBTold]

I only use Google now as a search engine for anything. I just like it more because it seems more simple. It doesnt have all the news and publicity around the search space.

[Bonsai1214]

thats what i loved about google since the beginning. the front page has stayed the same. plus i like the iGoogle feature where everything i want is available at a glance.

[CrashSharc]

they already entered the gaming industry... now the internet. Not surprised. I expect people to be wearing Microsoft sneakers and eating Microsoft sandwiches in the future. Like someone already said, save us google and Mozilla. I would SERIOUSLY get any OS google makes. it would all class.

[BrianC6234]

"they already entered the gaming industry... now the internet."

Microsoft has been involved in the Internet for years though. This isn't to get them into the business. They think it will make them bigger than Google. But it won't. Does Yahoo own a lot of patents Google pays royalties for or something? I see no way for this deal to help Microsoft.

[neeharb]

Every one loves google search ...
THIS sucks if microsoft starts charging us for using yahoo... the next thing you know will be yahoo gold yahoo silver 50$ us membership..
if it is free and we get better features and searches then it'll be cool

[SUP3R]

It won't be any different from their MSN.
The two are basically the same, but I prefer Yahoo over MSN and Google over all.

[Lord Anubis]

Save us Google.

[IntelligentAj]

Interesting. As much as I like google they have some serious balls to call that bid troubling. It was troubling when they bought Doubleclick while they already lead in ad revenue. Nonetheless I look forward to the competition from a merged Yahoo-MSN and Google.

[niall77]

get the F out!

[BLUR111]

yea but but... my sony dvd player broke.. dude they all suck sony is just as bad

[SUP3R]

Huh?? oO

What does Sony have to do with Yahoo, Microsoft and Google?

[Hydrollex]

and many africans dying everyday because all they need is a piece of bread

[Nostradamus]

The founder of Microsoft just quit to run his charities, I would say they are doing more than their share of giving money to good causes.

[socomnick]

O god who cares let them die. Why do some people feel the need to tell others how to spend their money. Its the companies money let them spend it however they want they worked for it. Its like you telling me to spend my whole paycheck on charity because some poor sap across the globe is dieing of course im not going to do it. Tough Luck.

[heyheyhey]

yeah so much for Bill Gates trying to "save the world" or w/e

his company is spending enough money to feed Africa for 10 years ON A FRIGGIN URL

[green]

Sorry but your point aint valid.Why becuase i will take Nigeria for an example.The amount of natural resources that that contry has is amazing.But at the same time 95% leave in poverty.Why?because most africans are a greedy bunch.

You will see an extremelly wealthy family(who most likely got their money from politics or bribes) posessing 20 plus cars,and opposite them a woman is selling corn and has her 6years old child(who cant go to school due to poverty)helping her out to make earns meet.So tell me why cant the millionaire help the lady out?Is the west supposed to feed the lady when a man with enough money to feed a nation decided to abandon her like she is a piece of crap.

Microsoft,Sony etc give more than enough money to charity in africa,but there is only so much they can do,the left is up to the average african to stop greed,war and whatever is tearing them apart and try and build themselves.

And believe me i know what i am saying because i am from west africa and i have spent most of my life there.

[IntelligentAj]

Yeah man. Most of those countries leaders are corrupt as hell and instead of funneling the aid where it's needed, they take it for themselves. Green is right, there are an enormous amount of resources in most of the countries on that continent, but greediness by the leaders and the wealthy few are more to blame than the companies in the west who donate money for support.

[kewlkat007]

If google had as much money they would do the same sh^t. Don't give me that Bull..

"If you can't beat them, join them" saying, has been around for generations.

If Google feels threatened, so be it. That's what competition is all about.This is just Business. As long as, it's within the law of course. Nothing new here. How do you think "EA" got so huge?

I use windows OS but have not used "IE" in like 6 years. Unless for updates and such. Just because something is bundled doesn't mean you have to use it. Mozilla is the sh^t.

[BlackCountryBob]

I don't remember the last time I looked at MSN or Yahoo for anything so they can merge all they want because I'll still ignore them in favour of Google and MagicTaxi (a couple of searches a day, charity and all that).

[Joey Gladstone]

this is the way of the current Corporate Machine, and anyone who is suprised by this move doesnt have the cutthroat busines mentallity that is required for this modern world.....simply put...............
.....oh yeah AND I LOVE GOOGLE's Simplicity ......Damn all of Yahoos Ads and that crap...
...
....oh and also since I'm in the open zone ...for
US FOOTBALL LETS GO PATRIOTS!!!!

...
.
....."The JOEY has Spoken"

[IntelligentAj]

Yeah I really can't remember the last time I used anything other than google for my searches. And Firefox is definitely tops.

[BLUR111]

yahoo aint good for nothing

[BLaZiN PRopHeT]

doesnt google have a monopoly on the market right now? i think they are just worried that this deal could challenge their dominance of the online advertisement market

[calderra]

Yeah, Google is acting offended that Microsoft might try to exert a monopoly on the search market, when Google currently has a near monopoly on the search market.

Pot, meet kettle.

[Lew_Ijgee]

Google does not have a monopoly. They just happen to be the market leader (there is a difference). There are plenty of other search engines out there.

The thing Google is worried about is the likely chance that Microsoft will not stop at just Yahoo, but that they will continue to purchase other web services in an attempt to absorb market share percentages.

Google doesn't want Microsoft to get too deeply into the web industry. If they did then they would be able to start an aggressive campaign to intergrade the web directly into their operating systems and other software. This would effectively bring Active Desktop and Windows Live up to a whole new level, and also be a great burden on any company trying to compete with Microsoft in the web market.

[BLUR111]

yea you can not trust those ms bastards, but i love my 360 so i could care less bout them greedy corpret robots. ''the blur111 HAS SPOKEN what ever blur111 means''

[Milky]

I love my games, not my 360

[TH3 GAM3]

Microsoft is only going to make yahoo go downhill from now.

[heyheyhey]

M$ are proper b!tches

[Milky]

oh well, who the hell uses yahoo ? and, who will use yahoo after finding out that microsoft have bought it ? nobody. apart from the ms fanatics

[niall77]

now I know :)

[jaja1434]

Yahoo mail is still being operated by Yahoo...

[Odion]

someones scared

[Bladestar]

funny... I've being involved in the online marketting for a while now... and as stated by IntelligentAj ... google purchased the top online advertising companies... they are a monopoly... I guess part of it is my fault... since I only use google for searching... I still believe they are better than Yahoo and MSN... I also prefer google maps API as a web developer... but let's not pretend Google is not a monopoly... the way things are going Yahoo and MSN will eventually die out on their own... they have a better chance to survive google if they merge.. and google knows this... I don't think I will switch to anything other than google as a search engine... but it can only make things better if instead of letting yahoo and MSN die... and letting google be the only search engine in the world... that merge it...

[IntelligentAj]

Agreed. That's why I had to laugh when I saw this. It's like everyone forgot that Google bought Doubleclick. I remember reading the article in my NY Times. They have the largest share of Ad revenue and without a merger of some sort, Yahoo would have continued to dwindle behind Google. Competition is always good, even if it's between two Big Corporations.

[Gina-get-u]

sniff sniff...do I smell fear?

[Lord Anubis]

The difference between Google and Microsoft is that Microsoft attempts to monopolize the industry to profit from the user and companies. While Google has the lead in search and releases their software for free and makes revenue off ads (other companies)

[IntelligentAj]

And you think google wasn't trying to profit from Doubleclick?

[kewlkat007]

after you become on top.

They all will do whatever to Stay there. Google themselves have acquired some smaller companies that suit there interest, like Big business do. It is ,what it is. Of course there is no "Bigger Bullseye" than MS and you know it.

Remember how "Ebay" was when they started? It was all about the Local Ordinary seller finding ways to sell their Items. Now with the Outrages prices they cost to sell an Item is ridiculous.

Every company gets greedy and have to later on rely on practices that may seem unfair to keep that advantage.

All I ask is keep things competitive, as long as, within the Law.

[Bladestar]

What's the difference? They are both for the money... "makes revenue off ads (other companies)" that's it? do you know how many billions we are talking about? You also try to make it seen that Selling a product is bad... why Sony or Nintendo do not offer their console for free and make money off ads.... better yet... how come all games which are all software given for free and let them make money off ads... how about the entire world and company provide their products for free and make money off ads... I use google APIs as a web developer and I tell you... they are not just giving it for free they are creating dependencies...
they are not just giving suff for free.. here... base on real experience and facts...

Let's say you want to add ajax using google library to your site... do you know what you have to do?

You have to add this...

<script type="text/javascript&quo t; src=" http://www.google.com/jsapi...

Do you see where it says YOUR_KEY_HERE ... that means you have to register and you get a key.. after that... your site depends on google... do you know what they can do with just that? track wherever site hits... add scripts to your site and do wherever they want with your site.. even install ads if they want to... of course google is from heaven and they would never do such thing... but there is always a posibility...

they do the same with google maps... and every API... you don't get a "DOWNLOAD" link where you can just get the source like many other APIs.. like ajax.net, Dojo and others...

And google is not the only company giving stuff for free... even Microsoft is... you want to see a bunch of Open Source microsoft based technologies go to CodePlex.com which is a microsoft hosting environment for open source...

There are lots of Microsoft free software though you find it hard to believe.... obviously microsoft haters preach that it's not the case...

Need proof?

Here is a list of over 150 free software by microsoft...

http://bhandler.spaces.live...

but shhhhhh.... Only google give free stuff.. and they do it with good intentions....

[Lord Anubis]

exactly, they are going to profit from the ads but not for the user.
The fear is that MS could try to change the industry and force users into payments. MS could establish their cloud OS or their very own live to only function with their products.

[joeynox]

Everyone b!tching that microsoft is a monopoly and that they dont allow competition like in eur are on crack. Its just a way to get cash from them and thats what ever state in the us is doing now. Apple is the same as MS and so is google. it was wrong for MS to include a browser but apple can. it was wrong for MS to include a media player but apple can. If its wrong to create software suites then 3/4 of the software companies should be paying out. Also is it MS fault that they became the dominant company . This is what buisness is all about. Every company strives to be what MS is EVERY COMPANY and Apple has proved that and so has google. Its about making money and stomping the competition. Its sad that the mom and pops get taken down in the end but the luck mom and pops become the big companies. Coke was a lil company,apple,MS,Google was a search engine and now they OWN the net.

[JVIDICAN]

someone has a microdildo up there ass XD (yes they bought the major company that makes dildos too =P)
jk

[OMGLOLZ]

MSN and Internet Explorer go hand in hand, is it possible that Mozilla could merge with Google

[JohnRico]

I love Firefox & Google is my home page. Screw Microsoft & Yahoo

[OOG FunK]

man why is this on a gaming site????

half of the people on this site dont have the brain power to understand any of this in the first place...let a lone half a decent conversation about video games without fighting

[robbo918]

Along the top of the website we have these little tabs, and one of them includes tech, dev, etc...this is not JUST a console site. I support Google in this. They are my main page and I use Firefox, but to each his own I say.

As to brain power...have instead of the second "half" you used and "a lone" is normally spelled alone.

[JokesOnYou]

theres always the usual sonykids who swear micro is evil, almost sounds like robots activated by key words "microsoft" and "buy" in the same sentence, that triggers them to go on some soapbox rant about the "Evil Empire", while every other company (especially sony) exists only to help out their fellow man, I don't know maybe sony pays their loyal fans rent or something.

Iam by no means a Bill Gates supporter or hater, but the guy has given billions to charity and continues to run a several foundations that look for worthy causes to contribute money, yeah he can spare the cash, still you have to give him credit where credit is due, because there are many filthy rich individuals that hoard ALL their money, which imo is kind of foolish, you can only buy so much before material things dont satisfy you and you cant take any of that money with you whenever you kick the buckett, so why not do something that you will be remembered for other than your company?

JOY

[Skynetone]

in the end microsoft will own the world

[zonetrooper5]

I use IE7 more than FF2 tbh, I have both installed and I just prefer IE7. Second I use google alot as its the best search engine out there. I've only used Yahoo, Ask and Live when I had to do something for Double ICT coursework lol.

[H2Os]

I personally use Yahoo for everything. It's my homepage. I'd like to seem them go to Google personally. I only use Yahoo Messenger and I use it mostly for the phone calls.

[Mr_Showtime1]

in the future Microsoft will be such a superpower that theyd have thier own private army, and te soldiers are given a drug to enhance thier powers and blind them from reality, maybe call it nectar or sumfin i duno.

lol j/k

[BrianC6234]

Google shouldn't worry about this. It won't get me to switch from Google to Microsoft. What exactly does Microsoft expect to get out of this deal anyway? Is Yahoo even worth anything? What do they give Microsoft over Google that Microsoft doesn't already have? It looks like a big waste of money to me. It could even help Google since Microsoft will spend a lot to get Yahoo. A lot more than the company is worth.

[GETPWNED]

This sh1t is COMPLETELY illegal. F*ck M$.

[rmedtx888]

Why are people surprised about this nasty business practices...It's Microsoft we are talking about.

[Ugly American]

As somebody has already stated, this is BUSINESS news... this has absolutely nothing to do with gaming. It isn't tech or industry. It is a hostile buyout. Why are we discussing this? Does somebody expect this to effect online PC gaming?

[Pain]

Mabey on paper but M$ buying yahoo then tying it in with whatever new OS they making
plus ther "no we not doing a iphone clone thing' with a Google type clone phone (get that?)
cant be good for competion or quality in the bizz.

And with the fact that MS is kinda trying to get it self in everthing befor in cashes scares me cuz its
turing in to a Royalty company, One wih no real product just fingers in everthing for more money.

thats what i see in this bid.

p.s i said this in another post, just seems right to say twice.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I found it too funny that Google tried to play the its not a good idea / unfair competition card when they are the biggest, badest gorilla on the block when it comes to search engines...and by a WIDE margin.

Good for MS and Yahoo...its about time someone gets up on Google and pulls them back to earth/reality.

[atomdooze]

Its the nature of all buesiness. And Ms wont be the first or last to bend the rules in there favor. Money owns all of you and me for that matter.