Well it appears that Yahoo has rejected the unsolicited bid from the evil empire! In my opinion this is a great day for small businesses. I can imagine nothing worse for the future of the internet than a domination by Microsoft. While Google may have a strangle  hold on the search and advertising business on the internet, they have gotten it the honest way- by commitment to an ever improved service to their user base. They early on developted a corporate strategy of "do no evil" which is about the polar opposite of Microsoft.  Google has gone to the top based upon a free market choice of their services due to the quality they provide their users. Microsoft has historically made it to the top by rolling over competition and forcing their users into  having no choice except what they choose to provide. Their products   typically are  either a rip off of someone else (i.e. Windows) or  promoted by forcing competition out of business   by bundling tactics (i.e. Internet Explorer).

Right now we have three major players in the internet  services arena- Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. It would be a travesty if Microsoft was able to buy their way into a two way fight with Google. I am relieved that Yahoo has rebuffed them for now, but I remain concerned as Yahoo obviously has some real business problems. I hope that they invest in innovation to compete with Google and force the bar higher for first class service to internet users. That can only be  good for individuals and small businesses. However, if  Microsoft had been able to buy their way into a two way fight with  Google the tactics they would use  to compete would  likely to have little to do with innovation or service to the community.

Well done Yahoo!