{"id":1056,"date":"2008-02-03T16:28:04","date_gmt":"2008-02-03T23:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/wp\/?p=1056"},"modified":"2008-02-03T16:28:04","modified_gmt":"2008-02-03T23:28:04","slug":"goliath_and_gol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/?p=1056","title":{"rendered":"Goliath’s slingshot"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Google adopted “don’t be evil” as the cornerstone of its corporate code of conduct<\/a>, what it really meant was “don’t be Microsoft.” The company’s loathing for its neighbor to the north was on display again today in a remarkably contemptuous broadside<\/a> launched against Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Yahoo by Google’s top lawyer, David Drummond.<\/p>\n

Drummond does not mince words. Microsoft’s “hostile bid,” he writes, is an attack on “the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.” He raises the specter of Microsoft “exert[ing] the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC” and “extend[ing] unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet.” He makes it clear that Google will seek to block any deal on antitrust grounds, arguing that:<\/p>\n

\n

Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors’ email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions – and consumers deserve satisfying answers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Drummond’s right that these are good questions and deserve serious consideration. But the irony here is that Google itself will provide Microsoft with the best counter to charges that it will wield monopolistic control over the Net after a merger with Yahoo. It is Google, after all, that holds “an overwhelming share” of web searches and search-based ads (as well as the largest share of online advertising in general), which most experts would argue are at least as important to the ultimate structure of Internet business as personal messaging and portals. Google’s paranoia about Microsoft, a paranoia that shadows all its business decisions, appears to have blinded the company to the extent of its own power. It has itself become a Goliath, even if it insists on wearing David’s clothes.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Microsoft’s top lawyer responds<\/a>, claiming the acquisition “will create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising. The alternative scenarios only lead to less competition.” Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports<\/a> that Google CEO Eric Schmidt has called Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang “to offer his company’s help in any effort to thwart” the Microsoft bid. It’s Goliath vs. Goliath, and Yahoo’s in the middle.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Dan Farber offers a useful table<\/a>, from Hitwise, summarizing the market shares held by Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google for a number of Internet services (though not for advertising). Drummond is certainly right about Yahoo and Microsoft’s dominance in portal home pages and web-based email. In combination, the two companies hold, according to the chart, 87% and 80% of those markets. Of course, those numbers also underscore Google’s lack of success in cracking those markets<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Google adopted “don’t be evil” as the cornerstone of its corporate code of conduct, what it really meant was “don’t be Microsoft.” The company’s loathing for its neighbor to the north was on display again today in a remarkably contemptuous broadside launched against Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Yahoo by Google’s top lawyer, David Drummond. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}