Microsoft +Yahoo! = MegaHard!!!

Very interesting development here: Microsoft is starting to pursue Yahoo. This is completely logical: Microsoft is getting so utterly trounced by Google that it needs to bulk up fast in the online search sector and its related fields.

Of course, integrating two such companies would be a hugely challenging task, and might be disastrous for both. But assuming it happens and doesn't collapse under its own weight, such a merger would also have very interesting repercussions for open source.

After all, Google is pretty wedded to free software as a competitive weapon against Microsoft, whereas Yahoo is probably more neutral on the matter. If Microsoft got its mitts on Yahoo, that would undoubtedly change, and its offerings would become far more Windows-centric - at which point, things would start to get really nasty.

It's certainly a cool scoop for the New York Post, but I do wonder about their subs (maybe they trained on the Grauniad):

Microsoft and Yahoo! also feature complimentary offerings on the content side, with MSN drawing an older audience with its news focus.

I'm not sure their very complimentary at the moment, but doubtless they will become that way if Microsoft pulls this off.