Microsoft Won't Take No For Answer

According to at least a story in the Financial Times, Microsoft has proposed to Yahoo something between a partnership and full buy-out. The subject of speculation is whether Microsoft is trying to buy Yahoo search.

Even though Google is huddling over what to do, as they find the combination threatening (and want to partner with Yahoo themselves), I don't see why. They might lose the revenue opportunity that advertising on Yahoo search might bring, and that would be a pain. But there is nothing that Microsoft would add to Yahoo search to make it particularly enticing. They can't integrate it into Windows because of their past anti-trust dealings, and if they had something compelling for users, you'd think it would have come out on MSN already.

Microsoft continues to push only because it doesn't know what else to do, and management there isn't willing to encourage real innovation because, well, it's not guaranteed to be a blockbuster. Here is where Microsoft could learn a whole lot from the old IBM. Not bloated bureaucracy - the Redmond company already has that in spades. No, it's the concept of a research lab that can hit on not just innovation, but out and out new concepts. They could even do it in software alone and fund it for what would be a song to them. The current state of affairs is management by fear. Perhaps the company could use someone at the top who is a little bolder. It will take some daring to move in some direction, because change is inherently threatening to the old order, and so far the company has communicated that it wants to stay exactly where it is.