Nickname: Mister_Doodi

Review: AOL Messenger + MSN messenger = huge user base. MSN also has contracts with Yahoo! to open up both of their servers. Microsoft has one up on everybody. Google has $100+ billion market cap now but when the stock consolidates it won't have as much of that. They will probably end up with $50-$70 billion. Not enough to buy AOL unless they really, really wanted it.

Date reviewed: Nov 12, 2005 5:42 PM

Nickname: Jon

Review: Not so fast. Internet search works in a way that Microsoft's money won't be enough crush Google like it has other companies. Google currently offers the best service for free, and as long as it continues to do so, Microsoft doesn't stand a chance, no matter how many AOLs and Yahoos it buys.

Date reviewed: Nov 7, 2005 7:49 PM

Nickname: CC

Review: MSFT buying overture? Does the writer know that Yahoo purchased overture about 3 years ago and it is know a subisdiary of Yahoo? So the only way they can buy it is to buy all of Yahoo.

Date reviewed: Nov 7, 2005 5:55 PM

Nickname: R. Scott Smith

Review: These are troubling times in IT. Dominance by a single company like Microsoft is going to hurt end users in the long run. They don't create the best solutions, only the best marketing. I know this because I haven't used any Microsoft products in years and have never been impacted negatively by it. I hate advertising and I will steer away from any systems that subject me to it. There is a tremendous loss in utility due to "paid search." I stopped using Google a couple of years ago because of this. I hope users will stop tolerating Microsoft and stop using Google but I don't think these intrusive trends will be met with much resistance by most users. These developments are depressing to watch. I wish users were more educated about the consequences and strengths of their actions.

Date reviewed: Nov 7, 2005 4:50 PM

Nickname: ExpertBuster

Review: The $100 million that Bill Gates invested in Apple after Steve Jobs took the helm has earned Gates a fat return. Certainly, the same money invested in Microsoft would have provided anemic returns at best and possibly dwindled his principal. Anybody who remarks that "Microsoft saved Apple" displays that not only were they unable to sense the seismic shifts already underway in the computing sphere in the late nineties, but are still clutching to their intellectual prejudices. The world will leave him/her far behind.

Date reviewed: Nov 7, 2005 2:41 PM

Nickname: aaron wall

Review: >MSN could yank away up to 30% of Overture's revenue, weakening its business. That would make Overture a potential takeover target for Microsoft Since Overture is owned by Yahoo! and drives a large percentage of their profits I can't see them selling that service to a large rich competitor that just dumped them. How would Yahoo! monetize their search traffic? License the patents and service they just sold MSN? MSN might buy Yahoo!, but they would probably need to buy the whole company to get Overture. Algorithmic search without the profit platform is...well, it just doesn't work.

Date reviewed: Nov 7, 2005 2:00 PM

Nickname: jose cuervo

Review: Microsoft must make this acquisition. One game they play very well is focusing on an enemy and subduing them. Remember: Apple, IBM, Lotus, Netscape, et al. What we call software today will be free and delivered over the Internet. Google already knows how to make money in a world like that. Microsoft does not. They cannot wait. The inevitable erosion of "the desktop franchise" has started.

Date reviewed: Nov 7, 2005 1:15 PM

Nickname: Freddy

Review: Microsoft will crush Google - just like they crushed Netscape. It's over, kiddies...

Date reviewed: Nov 7, 2005 5:35 AM

Nickname: Grassman

Review: Microsoft will own the moon someday.

Date reviewed: Nov 7, 2005 3:35 AM

Nickname: Randall

Review: Don't forget the huge instant messenger market that comes along with AOL. AOL instant messenger is by far the most popular for of instant messenging and the ability for MSN and AOL instant messenger to possibly merge would add in a huge advertising base.

Date reviewed: Nov 7, 2005 3:27 AM