Microsoft and Yahoo Reach Deal

e9th writes "We know that Microsoft failed last February in its attempt to buy Yahoo. Now, Advertising Age reports that they've reached a deal. Instead of a buyout, the two will enter into a revenue sharing agreement, and Bing will become Yahoo's default search engine. The meat of the AdAge article can be found in Yahoo News. This deal may give Google something to worry about."

Moot point

[Sporkinum]

Yahoo search was useless anyway, so having bing won't change anything for me. It will give them great insight into how people use yahoo's web site though, which will probably allow MSN to poach yahoo users.

Google in trouble?

[lordharsha]

Cobbling together 2 inferior technologies doesn't give you a superior one. I don't really think Google has anything to worry about. Kindly take your rabble rousing elsewhere.

Everybody needs competition

[nitroamos]

including Google.

Re:Google in trouble?

[Anonymous Coward]

dude, you really believe bing is an inferior technology. It has less market share. less market share != inferior technology. If you look at search results from the bing and google, if you remove branding, it's almost impossible to tell the which is which.

Re:Lol...

[revlayle]

Most people don't "avoid" Bing (except maybe people like on slashdot, which aren't a consumer majority, by a longshot). People do not use Bing because most people have already used Yahoo! and Google for years, most people won't know the difference that much except maybe "hmm it looks a little bit different". If Bing's engine is better than Yahoo!'s, then maybe people will stay with Yahoo! even longer - well, as long as Yahoo can survive that is.

Great

[Kamineko]

Some people here are saying that the quality of Bing results is comparable to Google's results in many cases. If we assume that's true, then Yahoo will become exactly like it was several years ago when it was using Google. As a Yahoo service, it'll still be covered in crap, and all that'll do is make people go to Bing, like Yahoo's use of Google lead to folks to use Google ("it's like Yahoo's search, but not crap!"). That'll work wonders for Yahoo. Again.

Re:Google in trouble?

[Panzor]

Hey, do not deem chocolate OR peanut butter to be an inferior technology. Fellow chocoholics and peanut butter enthusiasts! Grab yer pitchforks!

I don't get it...

[Rocketship Underpant]

Bing isn't really better than Yahoo's search it is? What's more, what about foreign-language searching? Yahoo is the only search engine that has spent significant resources improving their Japanese search results, for example. (Google is beginning to do this, but their search results still suck badly.) I imagine Bing would be a big step backward for most people outside the U.S.

Re:Goodbye old friend.

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is why a few no name nerds on Slashdot whining about this aren't going to make them care in the least bit.

Re:Google in trouble?

[shish]

such as putting out lots of side products that have little to moderate success

I can't say I've ever even seen anyone complain about either company doing this o_O What are you talking about, and why is this supposed to be a problem? :S

attempting to tie branded products together to create one giant platform

Having a large platform is fine, if it's based on open standards, and people using third party clients and servers aren't shunned

Re:Google in trouble?

[Tumbleweed]

I don't think the "You got Bing in my Yahoo!" commercial would fly so well. I'm sure someone would misinterpret it.

I dunno - that kinda sounds like you captured the essence of the business relationship pretty well there.

Re:Well, it was nice while it lasted

[sonicmerlin]

What do you mean "has gone by the wayside"? Could you specify what in the world you're talking about?

Re:Well, it was nice while it lasted

[StoneCrusher]

Could you please elaborate where Google has "Done More Evil". People questioned the privacy of their searches and they have since stated their privacy terms clearly (years ago). Google has advocated more open format and open source solutions backed with real money and development. They lobby for net neutrality and open access. I really don't see how they are doing evil.

People have to get used to the idea that if you type information into a website, that website has that information. It's pretty straight forward and there is no way around it. Even if they state they they will delete it, you can't verify that they have and should treat it as such. If you want to remain untrackable from any service, you have to use a proxy; end of story. PS. There isn't a shred of evidence that Google doesn't abide by their terms of service.

Without a specific grievance, it sounds like you are just rebelling against the popular and successful to make yourself feel special.

Re:Google in trouble?

[myxiplx]

Yes, but Google are also *not* doing rather a lot of stuff Microsoft did:

- They're not forcing you to use their products.
- They don't deliberately break backwards compatibility, using peer pressure to force you to spend more money to upgrade.
- They're not breaking competing products.

There's a massive difference between Google and Microsoft. I *choose* to use a vast number of google's products, simply because they are better than anything else out there. I'm *forced* to use Microsoft products, often at great expense, when I would much rather be using alternatives.

Re:Google in trouble?

[AHuxley]

Could be talking of American chocolate, the point is valid :)

Re:Goodbye old friend.

[remmelt]

Yeah, too bad it's linked to my Flickr account as well.

Re:Goodbye old friend.

[LordSnooty]

Which is why a few no name nerds on Slashdot whining about this aren't going to make them care in the least bit.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to "irony".

Re:Will Bing get better?

[bigman2003]

I disagree about Bing sucking...personally I really like it.

I like the short 'preview' of the page in the right column. I like the photo search. I like the maps (and the aerial view is MUCH newer where I live than Google.)

Overall, I think it is a great search engine, and it is a relief to be using something other than Google. It's not like Microsoft is any worse than other companies that have achieved a near monopoly.

The fact that Bing is my default search engine on Chrome tells the story of how things are changing for the better.

Re:Lol...

[fullgandoo]

Just like you get Google by default on the Safari search bar on Mac. Whereas on IE8, you can easily change it to whatever by a simple click, on Safari there is no such option.

Re:Amateurs! Just do a google fight!

[SuperIceBoy]

Yeah, but if you were searching for the bacteria testing kit Google would have failed. Where as yahoo and bing returned both.