The fact is the Buyout of Yahoo terrifies the heck out of all MS haters (myself included) who use Microsoft only but for a lack of alternatives. The bottom line is that Microsoft is a paranoid dictator who feels the walls closing in at the height of power. Microsoft, like oil production, has peeked. OS adoption is slow. Competitors are making in roads and consumers are finding alternatives. Zune is awful, Apple wins, MSN/Live Search is stiff and proprietary – My ASP sites always outrank my PHP sites on Live search, and Apple is not just for academics anymore. Ubuntu and other Linux distros are widely adopted for servers and Google has joined the browser war with Chrome. Microsoft underlying fear is dying from a thousand paper cuts but more so, much more so the cancer (in their mind) that will kill them is looming ominously but quietly in the halls of Google. Google’s search engine dominance is almost as monopolistic as Microsoft’s hold on desktop Oss but like Microsoft before them Google isn’t reinventing the wheel, they are following proven examples. Google is adopting more and more open technologies that are more stable, less proprietary and CHEAPER to adopt. Vista requires a hardware upgrade for adoption in a business centers. Linux distros are fast becoming user-friendly and every day support more and more web apps.

Google is planning an OS. Google is the only name big enough for widespread adoption, Google is already in OS business on its own, Google tweaks Linux distros for its own server purposes and who the heck wouldn’t buy a Dell or HP (or Acer or Lenovo)”Powered by Google” with ton’s of web apps. Dell has given in to Microsoft and backed off its Linux units but in the face of a major onslaught of competition, PC manufacturers just might stop being bullied. Linux is more stable and that can be proven in crash testing. Google is spending (millions of) their own dollars to make WINE handle the most popular apps like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Quickbooks. Google OS is coming. I don’t know what it will be called but it will be here soon. At it’s core will be something like Ubuntu Linux and Microsoft knows it. They know they have a brand problem and if they can release a web application enabled OS with Yahoo (powered by Microsoft in small print) they can compete. Hell they may even switch to Linux Kernel core eventually as well (but I doubt it). The Yahoo bid is designed for one reason and one reason, it is a stop gap against loosing their core monopoly- the Desktop OS market.

@L
That would be Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who was in a bunch of late 80s/early 90s movies.