Isn't this just a carbon copy of the statement they made in February [googleblog.blogspot.com] and featured on the homepage [webmasterworld.com] back then?

Well, if they use it to push silverlight and push back against firefox / opera / etc .. it would be annoying.

I think the FTC should approve this with conditions saying that MS has to have default support for high acid web standards.

Good luck on that though.

Said the company who specializes in secrecy. That's rich. G doesn't want a real competitor with 100x the resources. Between this merger and social networking cutting into profits, the stockholders won't be very happy unless they unload now.

I don't understand Google's stance here. "Bad for the Internet"? The only thing I see it being bad for is Google, not the Internet. Google has what, a 60% market share. Even if Microsoft buy Yahoo!, they are still behind the eight-ball, big time. At Google's current pace, what little market share Yahoo! and MSN have right now is slowly being shifted to Google.

So, what exactly is Google concerned about? I would guess that with the purchase comes some information about Google that MSN doesn't have? Historical stuff that may have some impact on Google if MSN were to get their hands on it? I don't know.

I've just never pictured Google as a whiner and they sure are whining right now.

Google claims that choice is Good – but at the same time they are limiting advertising options by gobbling up DoubleClick; a company very huge in display advertising. I think Google should be able to buy this company. However, I think it a little hypocritical of them to denounce Microsoft because a takeover of Yahoo would limit choice on the Internet.

Google cannot be a voice that should be seriously heard in regards of the current/future health of the internet - the one body that is bad for the internet is google itself. Yes - Google likes its position as Big Brother - Kingpin - wheeling and dealing with governments around the world.

I sure wouldnt want to play poker with Eric, I mean to sit there and say this with a straight face while almost every webmaster and advertiser on this planet is in Googles pocket is remarkable.

Positions like this are what turned people against Microsoft a decade ago. Keep it up Google, and you can see what the end result will be.

Is it possible to dislike Google any more? They are officially that "Bully" then when things don't go their way bitch and moan more than anyone I've ever seen. I can't believe they are even commenting on this possible acquisition except that they NEVER miss a PR opportunity.

This sounds like business as usual.

[microsoft.com...]

If you want the merger to be investigated then you have to at least raise an objection. I assume that is all that is happening here.

Microsoft has been shown to abuse any market they enter, the big business here may be messenger software as well as Silverlight. They could both be promoted to lock Firefox out of the web. Google has a big interest in the use of Firefox so they would be concerned about any bait and switch with Silverlight.

Microsoft has tried to own the web before through MSN so it would not be totally unheard of.

I suppose this new press release is intended to be much more populist than the original blog post.

the things that it has done that have been so difficult for everyone...there are things Microsoft could do that would be bad

I'm used to 'corporate-speak', but 'parent-to-child'-speak? ;)

They should be more concerned that their stock is in free fall and may also be ready for a buy it out too.

lol - now here's a "pot calling the kettle black" thread.

it would be funny if this made it through before the XM/Sirius merger.

What about M$ buying google? :)

Only if Bill can find another $90 billion down the back of his sofa.

does it really matter? give it one more year so that another million or two of americans go bankrupt and the chinese man will buy the entire us out.

How can you guys possibly slag off Google when they have a policy like this ...

The Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put "Don't be evil" into practice. It's built around the recognition that everything we do in connection with our work at Google will be, and should be, measured against the highest possible standards of ethical business conduct. We set the bar that high for practical as well as aspirational reasons: We hire great people who work hard to build great products, and it's essential that we build an environment of trust – among ourselves and with our users. That trust and mutual respect underlie our success, and we need to earn it every day.

;)

Well Sergey and Larry own the majority of the voting rights, and I think they have enough money to do whatever they want, and they probably just want to run Google.
i.e. unlikely Google will ever be bought out, at least in their lifetimes.

Well Sergey and Larry own the majority of the voting rights, and I think they have enough money to do whatever they want, and they probably just want to run Google.
i.e. unlikely Google will ever be bought out, at least in their lifetimes.

Google IS the Internet. Therefore, anything that is bad for Google is bad for the Internet. Case closed. :D

It will hurt the Internet if MSFT gets control of Yahoo! as they will abuse their monopoly on the desktop/in the browser/office/... to illegally expand into the other areas they do not dominate utterly yet.

They've been convicted and fined for similar things in the past, and there are no guarantees whatsoever they've changed their ways

Google is definitely not the internet.
Its all speculation, it might hurt the internet or it might better it. They may be able to put their leverage, talents and knowldedge combined with Yahoo's to create a better search engine than Yahoo or Live currently and a closer competitor to Google. One that we might actually use.
So of course Google should be scared of that.

MS has a long history of screwing up every technology it appropriates, and Yahoo is a leader among SE's. So yes, it would be bad for the web.

wah

I don't think they are seriously worried about this. Google's financial strength is evident but their whole business model is based almopst entirely on web search, which on the face of it is a quite a fragile position to be in.

They are probably quite confident that they are at the forefront of this technology and they are, but they will also be aware that there could be some genius around the corner with a better idea and perhaps a better way of doing this (please don't ask me what).

If this happened and the new system took off virally then they could disappear from the scene as quickly as they arrived.

Either way, it is very unlikely there is anyway such a deal would benefit Google.

> So, what exactly is Google concerned about?

It's just Eric being insecure. I don't think he speaks (well) for the company. I can't imagine Brin or Sergey saying something like that. Can you?

He would have been much better off to say nothing or make a statement of fact. How much market share Google has or whatever.

"If they do that, we'll release a new web broswer to replace Internet Explorer."

Schmidt's posture was entirely wrong--defensive, not offensive.

p/g