Microhoopla ain’t gonna happen
I have been without the net for a couple of days (what a bliss) and when I come back, I read that the whole MS-Yahoo acquisition will be a tad bit harder that stealing candy from a toddler (are toddlers even allowed to eat candy?)
Anyways, there is a lot of coverage on the fact that the board wants to reject the MS bid (but in the end are bound to fail anyway, but that would be a different story).
And now since the awful reality is starting to settle in, there are people popping up and saying that maybe it won’t be so bad, like John Gruber on Daring Fireball.
But what if Microsoft does the unexpected and keeps Yahoo separate and distinct? On a vastly smaller scale, that’s what Microsoft has done with its Mac Business Unit. Microsoft created the Mac BU in the wake of Word 6 for Mac, which was, more or less, a direct port to the Mac of the Windows version of Word — and almost universally abhorred by Mac users. To succeed on the Mac, Microsoft needed a (relatively) independent Mac division, and so that’s what they created.
To that I have only one thing to say: Wishful thinking guys. There is a slight difference between a Mac BU and potential Yahoo BU. It is about 45 billion $. Can you see Ballmer paying that amount for Yahoo (7$ per every person on this planet) and then say: “You know what guys? Let’s find some charismatic new management for you, clean up a bit and then you can do as you please. Run your business, make some money, but do whatever you want.”
Ain’t gonna happen. More likely it will follow soggy business strategy that Microsoft guys are masters of. They will apply all their know-how and Ballmeresque charm (oxymoron right there) to pull Yahoo out of the gutter.
Rrrright 
