Opinion: Google Czech Republic Will Benefit

Prague - I believe a Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo will benefit rather than threaten Google and Google's Czech Republic research center in particular. Yahoo's Open Source culture will be a poison pill for Microsoft, long the antithesis of Open Source software and a grand purveyor of overpriced and shoddy commercial software. Add to this the fact that Yahoo's core business is entirely different from Microsoft's, even though they both serve up e-mail, search, and online messaging. Yahoo understands this market better than Microsoft, otherwise there would be no 44.6 billion USD offer. In any case it will be many months before the new (Microhoo? / Yasoft!) organization finds its stride, which will give Google extra time to secure even further its hegemony of the online search-and-advertising space. Of course a proper response by Google will require more R&D, which will in turn benefit the brand new and growing research center in Prague! (opinion of the author, PragueBob, who received his master's degree in software engineering in Seattle when Microsoft was still young)