Google's co-founder Sergey Brin said on Sunday that Microsoft's proposed takeover of Yahoo! is an "unnerving" maneuver that threatens innovation on the Internet. Brin stated:
"The Internet has evolved from open standards, having a diversity of companies... And when you start to have companies that control the operating system, control the browsers, they really tie up the top Web sites, and can be used to manipulate stuff in various ways. I think that's unnerving."
Get a grip Sergey. This sort of scare tactic could have worked 10 years ago before Web 2.0 and before there was a serious threat to Microsoft on the Internet called Google. Google is a huge company that has an over 70% market share. Microsoft has a tiny market share, even with the combined Yahoo, Microsoft-Yahoo will still be very far behind Google.
Microsoft's hold on the desktop and browser for the last 10 years has not made it any more powerful in the 2008 Web 2.0 world. They are distant third place in search and losing ground. They are no longer the evil empire.
Google is the new evil empire. They are big, they control a ton of eyeballs and many people in the valley are now saying that Google is very difficult to deal with. Microsoft is just another player in the Internet space, Google is bringing up old battle cry's from yesteryear. Sergey better watch out, the Department of Justice may just come after him in a few years. Don't think so? Bill Gates never thought so.
