Week in review: Teaming up against Google
Microsoft offers to buy struggling Yahoo for $44.6 billion to better compete against Google. Also: Vista's one-year anniversary.
"Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player, who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition," Microsoft said in a statement Friday. "Together, Microsoft and Yahoo can offer a credible alternative."
Microsoft's offer, which was contained in the
Yahoo said in a responding statement that its board "will evaluate this proposal carefully and promptly, in the context of Yahoo's strategic plans, and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders."
At press time, industry watchers were busy chewing on the news and analyzing such a merger's potential impacts. How problematic would the huge
The deal followed what's been a tough week for Yahoo in its own efforts to stay afloat against competitors. After posting higher fourth-quarter revenue than a year ago but a lower net profit, the troubled Web giant confirmed expected plans to lay off
Yahoo had long been known for its innovativeness. But somewhere along the way, it has become mired in bureaucracy and what some see as an inability to respond to more nimble (though considerably larger) Google.
Following the earnings and layoffs news, Yahoo also announced that former CEO Terry Semel, who left his post last summer but remained as non-executive chairman of the board, is
CNET News.com readers, many of whom responded to a related poll, seem split on whether Microsoft should be allowed to buy Yahoo, and whether Google is a monopolistic threat.
To at least one reader, a merger makes "good business sense."
"Google watch out...Yahoo (is) making a comeback and (it's) gonna eat you up whole," the reader wrote in Talkback to a story.
Relative to Yahoo, of course, things are looking up for Google, which reported fourth-quarter revenue rose more than 50 percent and profit was up 17 percent. But the figures were just
Those missed expectations were partly due to a rise in traffic acquisition costs that cut into revenue. But executives acknowledged in a conference call with analysts that the company made less money than expected serving up ads on social networks, a sign that social networks
"When you have the largest online advertising player with the most advanced monetization tool set out there talking about challenges monetizing certain types of pages, yeah, it would seem to be an indication of a broader industry issue," said Derek Brown, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.
And Microsoft, for its part, isn't seeing the same thing as its chief rival. A Microsoft executive told CNET News.com on Thursday that monetization rates are good and have been steadily rising since the company first began feeding ads to Facebook in mid-2006.
Vista's one-year checkup
Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system turned one this week, which meant it was time for a thorough examination of its strengths and ailments.
A
According to the report, Microsoft issued 17 security updates fixing 36 vulnerabilities in Vista in the 12 months following its commercial launch in November 2006. By comparison, the company issued 30 security updates encompassing 65 vulnerabilities in XP's first year.
The report's author, Microsoft's Jeffrey Jones, says those numbers compare with more than 100 vulnerabilities fixed in Mac OS X Tiger's first year, more than 220 flaws in Ubuntu version 6.06 in its first year, and 360 flaws fixed for Red Hat enterprise Linux 4 in its first year.
There are lots more ways to look at how Windows Vista did in the first year, and CNET News.com's Ina Fried
Of course, not everyone is happy with Vista.
Plenty of
It should be noted that also celebrating a birthday was Microsoft's Office 2007, which first hit the retail shelves a year ago this week. Office 2007 sales were credited this week with helping the software market hit its highest level since 1999, according to
And Microsoft may have thought Vista would buy some goodwill with the courts, but a federal judge ruled that company will have to
Gadget gazette
Gadgets, or at least makers of such consumer electronic goods, also made some headlines this week. Motorola, for its part--a company that practically invented the cell phone market in the 1980s--said it is considering
Wall Street reacted positively to the news of a possible split in the company and boosted Motorola's share price 10 percent to $12.65 in after-hours trading. But some industry analysts say that simply selling the handset division could be a bad idea for the company, which has spent billions of dollars over the past several years building its consumer brand.
On the chip front, the PC industry is wasting little time getting in line behind Apple to use Intel's spiffy new notebook chip.
Back to Apple, the company has no doubt taken iPhone unlocking very seriously. Even so, it appears despite significant roadblocks, the
Each of the three times Apple and AT&T have reported their iPhone numbers since July, there has been a gap between the number of iPhones sold by Apple and the number of iPhones activated for AT&T's network. During the first weekend of iPhone sales, the gap was 124,000 units. At the end of the third quarter of the calendar year, it had grown to 300,000 iPhones. And last week, Apple and AT&T revealed that gap had increased five times over in the fourth quarter, to 1.7 million units.
In camera news, CNET News.com's Stephen Shankland offered thorough coverage of the Photo Marketing Association trade show in Las Vegas, where among the biggest news, Sony showed off its new flagship SLR. The
Readers weighed in on a related
Also from a show floor this week, CNET's Webware offered complete coverage of the Demo 2008 conference in Palm Desert, Calif. Editor Rafe Needleman said the show didn't offer "any new products to capture the hearts and minds of the general public or even a majority of the tech elite." But
Under a blood red piracy fight
Paul McGuinness, the manager of Irish rock band U2 rattled more than a few people during a speech in which he
U2, one of the world's most beloved bands for more than two decades, is as a result
"U2's manager tells us why we are bad," "U2's crazy manager wants to go after tech firms," and "U2 McGu's ISP rant" are just a few of the headlines coming from outraged bloggers.
McGuinness' comments also got people discussing the idea in other arenas.
Recording Industry Association of America President Cary Sherman despises piracy and he's a vocal fan of proposed laws that would beef up penalties for copyright infringers. But
"I don't think anyone here is trying to re-legislate this issue," Sherman, said at an Internet policy conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. "We're much more interested in finding a marketplace way of going about this."
Sherman did, however, say he was encouraged to see that some companies, such as AT&T, are already experimenting with network filters. But those are business decisions best made outside the framework of regulation, he said.
Also of note
Netscape wins one month from executioner...The golden anniversary of the United States'