Yahoo and MSN: How is that better?

Google is probably happy to read news like this: evidently Microsoft and Yahoo are considering coming together in some meaningful way to better compete against an ever growing Google Internet presence.

I agree with Danny that this makes sense, but only in a sort of 'looks good on paper' way. Danny makes the point that a new brand--or new owner of the brand--would only confuse users even further. Plus, I have doubts that you would be able to take the technology and the audience of the two and add them up to 2 (let alone 3). That is, I'm not sure if throwing these two services together would net out anything larger.

Google, meanwhile, is sitting in a power position. They continue to grow not through acquisitions, but rather through development. They acquire, but only as it suits their big dreams and fancy.