Microsoft + Yahoo = Big Mess?
Everyone on the sideline seems to be very excited about possible Yahoo and Microsoft merger, but I’m not so sure it’s going to turn out pretty. Microsoft has a history of making acquisitions, and few comes to mind of anywhere close to a success. The exception being Bungie, and only because Microsoft left them alone.
For [...]
By longzheng on 01 February 2008
Everyone on the sideline seems to be very excited about possible Yahoo and Microsoft merger, but I’m not so sure it’s going to turn out pretty. Microsoft has a history of making acquisitions, and few comes to mind of anywhere close to a success. The exception being Bungie, and only because Microsoft left them alone.
For example, in 1997 Microsoft acquired Vxtreme Inc for their web theater technology with $75 million. What web theater?
With the help of Josh Philips from WindowsConnected.com we’ve compiled a list of existing Yahoo services and matched it with existing Microsoft offerings. It’s an astounding number of overlaps. Of course there’s many more services from Microsoft without Yahoo equivalents (ex. Office Live).
Now imagine for each and every one of these you have to make a decision - to keep it as is, integrate Yahoo’s into Microsoft’s, integrate Microsoft’s into Yahoo’s or even come up with a new hybrid. Simple branding aside, I think the developers are going to have to work quite a few late nights to integrate what I believe are two monolithic systems together.
Whatever they do, they better not ruin Flickr.
| Service |
Yahoo Equivelent |
Microsoft Equivelent |
| Content Portals |
Yahoo.com |
Msn.com |
| Country-specific Content Portals |
ex. Yahoo7.com.au |
ex. Ninemsn.com |
| Personal Homepage |
My Yahoo! |
Live.com |
| Casual gaming |
Yahoo Games |
MSN Games |
| Mapping |
Yahoo Maps |
Live Maps |
| Instant Messenger |
Yahoo Messenger |
Live Messenger |
| Mail |
Yahoo Mail |
Live Hotmail |
| Community Help Service |
Ask Yahoo! |
Live Q&A |
| Photo Sharing |
Flickr |
Live Spaces |
| Blogging |
360° |
Live Spaces |
| Widgets |
Yahoo Widgets |
Windows Sidebar |
| Search Advertising |
Yahoo Search Marketing |
Microsoft adCenter |
| Mobile |
Yahoo Mobile |
Live Mobile |
| Web Development |
Yahoo Developer Network |
Dev.Live.com |
| Web Mashups |
Yahoo Pipes |
Popfly |
| Website Services |
Yahoo Small Business |
|
| Geocities |
|
| Social Events |
upcoming.org |
|
| Social Bookmarking |
del.icio.us |
(Advertising deal with Digg) |
| eCommerce |
alibaba |
|
| Music Service |
Y! Music/MusicMatch |
Zune Marketplace, MSN Music |
| Music Software |
Music Jukebox |
Windows Media Player |
Did I miss anything? Please help me correct it.

Note: This blog entry was originally posted on feeds.feedburner.com. View original post
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