Tech Your Universe

Two words.

Thank.

God.

Ok, more than two words, because I know people are wondering how I feel.

First, I left Yahoo! because of Microsoft. Yes, I was wrong about the final outcome. When I left it looked like it was 80% likely that it was going to happen. I’m still correct in my assumpitions about what the hostile takeover attempt has done to the company. And I think I’ve found something better in my new job. I still feel I made the right decision.

Second, I am sure that Yahoo is better positioned to be successful alone, rather than with Microsoft in any way, and while this is definitely going to be a short term hit for shareholders, it is the better long term outcome for Yahoo to be independent. Read more about why the deal would have been a complete disaster.

Third, Steve Balmer, you can take this Yahoo/Google search deal and shove it up your a$$. You forced Yahoos hand, and now you are going to be a distant 3rd place, for a very long time. At least until Wikia Search takes it from you.

Finally, During this uncertain time at Yahoo, people have left. More today. Zawodney. JR Conlin. Both Yahoo icons. The disruption that this has had has put both Yahoo and Microsoft further away from reaching Google.

It’s now time for Yahoo to pick up the pieces and move on. Oh - and to spend another 12-24 months fighting shareholder lawsuits. Wouldn’t it be great if Yahoo countersued Microsoft for the damages?

More info at news.yahoo.com

As a Yahoo! employee that stands emphatically against Microsoft’s hostile takeover, I’ve been pretty vocal about how awful Microsoft is because of their poor technology, their anti-open source stance, and their anti competitive history. So much so that Yahoo! management has asked me to "tone it down". Ha. Ever since grade school, I do what I think is right, not what I am told to do.

Could I be wrong? Could Microsoft be changing it’s ways?

First, Microsoft announced that they were open-sourcing some of their platforms, a clear attempt at making-good with the open source community. I cautiously applauded this when it happened, even though I think that the timing was very convenient for appeasing Yahoos.

Today I ran across an article by Robert Scoble, where he highlights what good Microsoft has done in the last 6 months, and I agree the results are encouraging.

I just had dinner with a bunch of Italy’s top tech bloggers and technologists and Marc Canter. Plus I’ve been talking with people all day long. Microsoft hit major Internet home runs today with its announcements, based on what I’m hearing from formerly-skeptical developers.

I haven’t heard this level of excitement about Microsoft’s Internet Strategy in years.

Interesting story, it’s worth a read. I support a change of heart by Microsoft, and I hope it’s genuine.

Not believing that Microsoft could really be trying to be a good citizen, I dug deeper and found an article by Dana Gardner, and he poses some interesting questions on what Microsoft’s ulterior motive may be:

And that raises the same old questions. Will the power increase to a point where the openness declines? Will the standards over time be increasingly set by the de facto marker leader? Will the Internet and its efficiencies work best for consumers and users, or those that can manipulate it best?

See the full story here

Hmm. What are they up to? We will see. Most of the past 10 years of Microsoft’s business practices are marred with bad karma. If they are good citizens for the next 5, they can show the world that they have changed.