Microsoft to take over Yahoo!?
Fri 1 Feb 2008, 11:19 pm
I’m surprised that there wasn’t more comment on library blogs about the possible takeover of Yahoo! by Microsoft. Perhaps people are waiting to see how it will shake out. No one has ever mistaken me for an industry analyst, but I’m curious about the effect this might have on libraries in two areas.
First, would this takeover mean less choice and competition in search? Or would it mean that Microhoo! would make a real breakthrough in search and become a real rival to Google? Or does Google just have search completely wrapped up?
Second, and more importantly to me, what would this mean for Yahoo!-owned Flickr and del.icio.us? Could Microsoft be trusted not to screw up these great sites? See Merlin Mann’s Five subtle changes in the event that Microsoft acquires Yahoo!. (Perhaps also relevant are What If Gmail Had Been Designed by Microsoft? and Microsoft designs the iPod package.)
I have used both of those sites since before they were bought by Yahoo!, and in neither case did I worry too much about their acquisition. But Microsoft seems different. I’d be afraid that MS couldn’t help itself from trying to “improve” the sites. John Gruber thinks it likely that MS would just sell them off, anyway, which may or may not be comforting, depending on who bought them.
This is something I think about when it comes to using all these sites for library purposes. Sure it is easy, cheap, fun, and sometimes even effective to use these sites for various library-related purposes. But I’m not sure I have a good enough backup plan in place if one of these sites were to shut down, or suddenly change its services or terms of service such that I thought it was no longer appropriate for the library.
Updated 2008-02-04: Check out the Flickr group, MICROSOFT: KEEP YOUR EVIL GRUBBY HANDS OFF OF OUR FLICKR , which is where I found the illustration seen here. Then there is Richard Akerman at Science Library Pad who notes in his post JotSpot wikis disappear from the net that Google’s seeming disinterest in its property, JotSpot, might be an indicator of how MS would treat Yahoo! properties. I especially liked this line: “This is a good reminder about the risks of living ‘in the cloud’ (I have quite a lot of work put into pages in my JotSpot wiki, they had better be coming back online).”
- License:
- File under: Social software
- Comments? 3
Oh, man, I forgot about flickr! And NO, they cannot be trusted to not screw them up. Damn it. I’ve already been in a tizzy about the fact that if this goes through I’m sure it will RUIN my email, which I have used without a hitch since 1996. When MS took over Hotmail they completely ruined it, and now it’s easily the worst web-based email out there.
And, sigh, I host my sites with Yahoo – again, for years without a single issue – and now that will be effed up too.
Comment by Jessica — February 2, 2008 @ 10:53 am
I have been trying to pretend that I didn’t hear this news. I too have had Yahoo email forever with no problems. Flickr has my library’s photos and Del.icio.us has my bookmarks. Seems like all this will do is give Google an even larger share of the email, photosharing world. Not sure where to stash my bookmarks if “D” gets messed up. sigh.
Comment by Susan — February 4, 2008 @ 1:19 pm
I refer to Sharepoint as “what if Microsoft had designed wikis…” ;)
Comment by K.G. Schneider — February 4, 2008 @ 2:59 pm