There are a lot of questions surrounding Microsoft's bid of Yahoo. If the purchase went through, it's unlikely Microsoft would stir the pot immediately; they would probably leave Yahoo as is temporarily. But at some point or another, Microsoft is going to change things up. Would they create a clone of their own search engine? Would the open source projects that Yahoo has been a part of dry up? Microsoft has been obsessed with search in the last year; despite their claims that Google is a one-trick pony, they know they're losing out on huge revenue by having such a substantially smaller piece of the search market. Even with the acquisition of Yahoo, Google would still be the dominant search provider, so are google's claims that this is a monopolistic tactic a bit unfounded?

Do we believe that Google would be more likely to continue Yahoo's relationships with the open source community? It seems more like than Microsoft doing so. Google might not be as open as Yahoo, but they do employ a vast number of Linux servers, and they use a lot of open source software. Google also seems less likely to try and manipulate an existing web company and its users. Remember Google's purchase of YouTube? Correct me if I'm wrong, but YouTube is still chugging away as usual; it doesn't appear to have dramtically or significantly changed in anyway. Perhaps Google is better at leaving well enough alone, but then YouTube provided videos, not search, and Yahoo is a direct competitor of the search giant. Maybe it would be too much to ask that Google just let Yahoo continue business as usual after an acquisition.

It's a tough call. The best solution: things stay the same. Yahoo is a great search engine; even if you're a fan of Google, Yahoo can be a friendly alternative. Competition is going to keep these companies innovative; it's going to force them to keep coming up with better software, more powerful search engines, etc. We've seen how Microsoft's acquisitions of companies in the past has left to shoddy products (most notably Microsoft's purchase of Internet Explorer from Spyglass, Inc.). Sure, there are other alternative search engines out there to keep up competition, such as Ask.com or the new wikia search, but these search engines don't have a significant stronghold on the market, and companies like Yahoo should remain independent to keep other companies like Google and Microsoft on their toes. 

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