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Yahoomicrosoft The Chatter

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by Kevin Maney
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Feb 04 2008 12:00am EDT

Yahoo/Microsoft: The Chatter

As you might imagine, there is no hotter topic in tech than Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo.

We got a look at how Yahoo could run to Google to keep Microsoft away. There's concern that Yahoo-Microsoft would harm open source software. And a sense that the cultures of Microsoft and Yahoo may not be terribly different. (I find that hard to believe, to be honest.)

Along the way, when evaluating Yahoo's mistakes of the past few years, consider today's news that Yahoo will dump its own music service in favor of a partnership with Real Networks' Rhapsody. Back in 2001, Yahoo bought Launch Media to get its music service. Then, in 2004, it paid $160 million for Musicmatch, allegedly to make the music service even better and offer a music player. Then, in the end, Yahoo scraps it all and goes with Rhapsody. Maybe Yahoo can be a better company under Yang, but the music mess is a sign of why it got in trouble during Terry Semel's tenure.

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