At least agreed upon one thing...

Story: Ubuntu man says Microsoft's about to 'swallow a hand-grenade'Total Replies: 2
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vainrveenr

Apr 30, 2008
9:48 AM EDT 		As one commentator to MS's actions put it, "MS (the python) will choke if not die" through its current acquisition efforts.

Among the various scenarios playing out around MS's self-destructing possibilities are the following two :

------------------------------------------ First Scenario ------------------------------------------ Ballmer and Co. will continue to follow-through with its takeover attempt of Yahoo!, and not just give-up on this despite its current offer-rejection lull.

The beginning and ending paragraphs from Steve Hansen's NYTimes blog 'Why Steve Ballmer Will Keep Chasing Yahoo' (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/why-steve-ballmer-w...) lead into why this must be so, basically agreeing with Shuttleworth that " Microsoft's about to 'swallow a hand-grenade' " :
Quoting:Why is Microsoft taking its sweet time showing its next move in the battle for Yahoo? I suspect it is simply arranging the forces for its next attack.

Why? Because I don’t think Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer could accept giving up—that would mean Microsoft conceding that it simply could not be a leader in the leading form of consumer technology, Internet-based services.
Quoting:So in the next few days, I expect he’ll announce a full-on proxy fight. If he does say he’s walking away, I suspect it will simply be a ploy to bargain over price on the bet that Yahoo or its shareholders will come running into his embrace later.

Then three years from now, after Microsoft has spent all its cash, diverted its resources and perhaps gotten distracted from its other businesses, there may be a moment where Mr. Ballmer has to really confront the limits of the company. Or, just maybe, we will see Microsoft prove that it still has the technical chops and marketing acumen to come from behind and win something fair and square.

How could Steve Ballmer not want to choose the chance of victory over the certain admission of defeat?


------------------------------------------ Second Scenario ------------------------------------------ MS could wait out its purchase of Yahoo! until the latter becomes a cheap buy, and instead target at the present time a smorgasbord of choice and innovative companies in the digital space, e.g., Digg and others.

Kara Swisher mentions this possible MS strategy in her BoomTown piece 'While Ballmer and Yang Fiddle, Web 2.0 Hotties Burn…' found at http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080425/while-ballmer-and-yang-f... Swisher elaborates upon the strategy here:
Quoting:And what about a plethora of really useful and interesting small start-ups all over Silicon Valley and elsewhere that are going to have to eventually find safe harbors when this Web 2.0 thing cools off, as it inevitably will. (AOL [TWX], Amazon [AMZN], eBay [EBAY] and, again, Google [GOOG], are natural choices.)

But not Microsoft (MSFT) or Yahoo (YHOO) if they persist in competing in this endless geek cage-match for too long.

Yesterday, more blustering bluster from Microsoft when it said, during its quarterly conference call, that it would not pay more to acquire Yahoo and might very well walk away from the deal.

My advice: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer should stop talking and start walking. If not, pay up and finish the deal.

And Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang should cooperate and stop its now-tiresome posturing (we get it, it’s worth more!).

Why?

Well, while the pair remained locked in mortal combat, a status that will continue if they actually do manage to unite and have to then conduct a doubtlessly slow-moving merger, their main rival Google and others are the likeliest to benefit every day this drags on.

Right after Microsoft made its unsolicited for Yahoo in February and it was quickly rebuffed, BoomTown suggested in a post that the software giant move on quickly and use its tens of billions to buy up the choicest and most innovative companies in the digital space.


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If Swisher's prediction should be realized -- along with MS's holding off from its current plans to buyout Yahoo! -- then this would be an intriguing alternative to MS's possibly "swallowing that hand-grenade".

This prediction then throws the question right back onto Hansen's POV above: At this point in time, just how exactly _CAN_ Ballmer and Cop. prevent itself from proceeding with its hostile buyout of Yahoo! ??
tuxchick

Apr 30, 2008
9:59 AM EDT
Quoting: just how exactly _CAN_ Ballmer and Cop. prevent itself from proceeding with its hostile buyout of Yahoo! ??


Let 'em. Yahoo is struggling- they look more like a big boat anchor than a desirable asset.
flufferbeer

May 01, 2008
9:31 AM EDT 		@vv You wrote
Quoting:If Swisher's prediction should be realized -- along with MS's holding off from its current plans to buyout Yahoo! -- then this would be an intriguing alternative to MS's possibly "swallowing that hand-grenade".


Whatever scenario occurs, in any case the M$ buggers choke. It'll just end up a question of how long it really takes for them to do this to themselves. According to first scenario, this'll be ~about three years. According to the second, this could be faster or much slower.

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