Comments on: Microsoft's antitrust problem

By: William Rhodes, Darlington MD

William Rhodes, Darlington MD — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:38:23 +0000

I think MS is a very large part of the internet experience at this point; you never know how big until you try to avoid their company. If our government blesses the merger; it will be an excellent example of the tail wagging the dog. More precisely MS controlling the legislature. However it will not be a big secret as too many geeks will spill the beans.

By: nancy mueller Cleveland Ohio

nancy mueller Cleveland Ohio — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:45:09 +0000

Over the Christmas holiday a hacker from Bejing China hacked my hotmail and sold merchandise using my ebay ID. The hacker changed my hotmail password and used my account. When the intrusion was reported to Microsoft, I was to;d that there was nothing they could do as Hotmail was a remote server and Microsoft couldn't insure that Hotmail info would be safe even though my computer was proitected by a firewall and Hotmail required a password to log into the account. I can only imagine the same irresponsibility for information protection multiplied by millions if Microsoft were to acquire Yahoo mail as well as Hotmail. Users BEWARE!!

By: Tom Barta Durham,NC

Tom Barta Durham,NC — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:56:00 +0000

"The Rightwing regulators who approve virtually all mergers"

Two quick points:

1) The EU has much better regulators who already know MSFT very well.

2) John Conyers (D, MI), as head of the House Judicial committee, is discussing the YHOO/MSFT deal Friday. The Dems are not "evil" like anybody Bush appoints, so the chance of the US getting involved is greater than zero.

I was involved in a take over once and it took a year before approval was obtained, globally. I'm sticking with Yahoo services FOR NOW.

By: Renato Vespaccio, Fontana, CA

Renato Vespaccio, Fontana, CA — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:51:30 +0000

I have already notified some customers that I am likely to ditch my yahoo email to googlemail. The Rightwing regulators who approve virtually all mergers, no matter what they are, should be contacted and tell them to just say no to this one.

Good point on why Google does not change the equation; It's because Google acquired its high economic status by predation. I.e., it's not a predatory company, but Microsoft is so MS should be stopped from subsuming a competitor because it will decrease competition as well as innovation. Shooot, Google is actually appears to be a consumer friendly company.

By: Tom Barta Durham,NC

Tom Barta Durham,NC — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:27:59 +0000

Pundits focus on Google's large share in search with regards to antitrust. This is absurd on several levels: 1) Large market share is not illegal; anticompetitive BEHAVIOR is (Netscape Vs. MSFT–including IE in Windows to attack Netscape) 2) GOOG EARNED its market share. MSFT has never succeeded on the basis of product merit– except with Halo 3, maybe.

Many people will feel their choices restricted if MSFT buys Yahoo. Many people have no problem with MSFT; I do. I would want to close my Yahoo Email account of 15 years. I would have to find a photo service the same quality as Flickr and move something like 5 gigs of photos, and re-"tag" the photos– hundreds of hours of work. Others might need to find alternatives to Zimbra or Yahoo messenger. Many people have yahoo.com as a home page out of habit. I do. But give people a reason to switch and switching is very easy. Ballmer is nuts if he thinks Yahoo will retain even 80% of its customer base.

By: Terry-Redmond, Washington

Terry-Redmond, Washington — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:07:40 +0000

"the REAL problem for Microsoft is that, after the Yahoo acquisition, it will STILL be WEAK compared with Google"

Think long term. Microsoft will leverage this new acquisition with their OS monopoly and will eventually lead to their dominance on the internet as well. Google has every right to be on edge.

This hostile bid must be refused.

By: Gaetano Marano - Italy

Gaetano Marano - Italy — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:27:48 +0000

if Google (with 60% of the web advertising market share) has no "antitrust problems" then, Microsoft-Yahoo (with less than half the Google ads market) can't have any antitrust problem

the REAL problem for Microsoft is that, after the Yahoo acquisition, it will STILL be WEAK compared with Google

then, Microsoft-Yahoo needs other fusions to win against Google, like a Microsoft-Yahoo-eBay-PayPal merge

that's since the auction and web payments are two markets Google is trying to enter (not successfully, so far)

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Gaetano Marano – Italy

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