[ Thanks to Damn you Dangermouse
for this link. ]
“News that Microsoft and Yahoo have finally agreed a
formula for their collaboration comes almost as a relief after what
seems like years of tiresome on-off negotiations. The headline of
the press release is “Microsoft, Yahoo! Change Search Landscape”,
and that’s certainly true:“Yahoo! and Microsoft announced an agreement that will improve
the Web search experience for users and advertisers, and deliver
sustained innovation to the industry. In simple terms, Microsoft
will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive
worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium
search advertisers.“At a stroke, then, Microsoft’s Bing search engine becomes
number two, and its market share is no longer risible compared to
Google’s. That’s clearly hugely important, but what interests me
here is what effects this deal will have on open source.”