Microsoft to buy Yahoo... more flickr identity problems

that color fate looks too dark to me... what do you think?

News:
Microsoft Makes $45 Billion Bid To Buy Yahoo-
MSFT + YHOO: What Would Microsoft Yahoo Look Like?
So the conference call has happened, and despite saying it has a plan to digest Yahoo, Microsoft didn't share that with the world. Indeed, at one point it was said any plan depended on what Yahoo's leadership would suggest. That means it's time for What If. Some thoughts below from me and contributing editor Greg Sterling. We've been IMing all day about the move. [...]
searchengineland.com/080201-094751.php
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I didn´t add this to the Google set by mistake... you see, google is the ultimate reason of this news.

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Comments

tom )º( says:

so we are fucked!
realy bad news :(

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Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

MattPenning says:

I've been dreading this since Yahoo bought Flickr: that one day I would have to leave. I can put up my photos elsewhere. Where else can I find the same community? Leaving Flickr would be like leaving my home. I have hope, but not much with Microsoft at the helm.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Dave Ward Photography says:

Remember when Yahoo! bought Flickr, some of us were joking that M$ will buy Yahoo! now. It was just a cynical joke. It wasn't supposed to actually happen.

I tried to post in the Flickr Help forum to ask what it would mean to us -- I was perfectly police and nice about asking if the TOS might change and what else might be different. I tried to post once, but my post strangely did not show up in the forum.

So I tried to post again, but again my question did not appear in the forum.

I tried one more time, figuring I was doing something wrong. But when I went to the posting page, I got an alert message: "Your account is not allowed to post in the help forums."

At first I didn't want to think it, but now I'm convinced that somebody at Flickr was actually deleting my question without telling me, and then even banned me from posting in the help forum!

This is SOO not cool. It's like a glimpse of the kind of behavior that is to come if M$ does wind up owning Yahoo! and Flickr. This is terrible.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

eye of einstein says:

back to you on this as I have had my ears perked all day..

I was thinking about this all day.. but not sure what it would mean to Flickr'rs..
If we had to we could all move to another photo sharing site
but none seems to be as good as this one
maybe Google will offer to buy Flickr..

maybe maybe maybe
meantime i will mindfully live in the present..
I wonder what our European delegation thinks about this..??
mostly no one is really fond of Microsoft.. but whattayagonnado..?
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Patrick T Power says:

I was thinking about this today, too... I was thinking that I would quit flickring. Dunno.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Computer Science Geek says:

It's the end of the world as we know it...
—and I feel fine.

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Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

_sarchi says:

anyone want to buy shares in skype
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

alternatePhotography says:

I heard about this and I dunno...doesn't look good.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

thepretenda says:

errrrrrrrrrrrrr.....not good!
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

јad says:

Maybe we should start looking for an alternative or even build a one ;)
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

███ ★ Alfredo Andaluz Prado ★ ███ says:

go to picasa :P
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

♥ shhexycorin ♥ says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called MICROSOFT: KEEP YOUR EVlL GRUBBY HANDS OFF OF OUR FLICKR, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

tgrblck says:

Companies are always owned by someone. Thats the nature of the beast.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

wimdejonge says:

Yahoo already made flickr feel how it is to be controlled by a big corporation (and flickr gradually became less and less interesting). What more "evil" would Micro$oft add?

Perhaps this will stir up things at google a bit, and they will develop/buy a decent flickr competitor. I don't think that would be a bad thing.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

DitB says:

Heard the news but did not think this thought until I saw your picture.

Apple to buy Google next? Maybe they could make a Flickr alternate that works in the combined Google/Apple spirit of good design, cut the crap and things that work ... then Microsoft, MSN, Yahoo and all the other over-engineered and too complicated services could stay together (=away from me and many others!)
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

tsevis says:

Save Yahoo!!!
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

snowjoe says:

At 2 minutes 15 seconds into this movie:

www.storyofstuff.com/

Annie Leonard says that of the worlds 100 largest economies 51 are corporations. When Walmart buys Microsoft or vice versa we will be asking the same questions.

Thanks for the thought and all of your Alienessness!
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Elliott les yeux grand fermés says:

i wont be part of it !!! you say you want a revolution.... but you know its gonna be alright ;)
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

I feel nothing specially bad about Microsoft... it´s basically a question of being "sooo uncool"...

The worse or best, is that Bill and them all know it
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEWMC4usElM
(video on Bill Gates last day in microsoft... the epitome of uncoolness, featuring: he himself! Perhaps the only thing close to "cool" he ever did, to laugh at himself and bring famous people to help him...)

Let me tell you the truth... I think Yahoo fashion is even worse than Microsoft´s... see "live", "msn", they make an effort... compare it to the "Yahoo!" portal, yahoomail... aaaahhhggg!!!
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

alternatePhotography says:

Hahaha, nice commentary :-)

Let's hope for the best...

"Microphoto?" by Liquid Lucidity [?]

Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Dragon_I says:

Yeppers lights out. Flickr will now only work with Microsoft Cameras ;)

Microsoft announces new Flickr pricing!!!

Say goodbye to Flickr Pro :( Say hello to Flickr Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate.

Flickr Home Basic - $24.99
Flickr Home Premium - $39.99
Flickr Ultimate - $69.99
Flickr Business - $99.99
Flickr Enterprise - * Call for pricing (probably can't afford it)
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

LittleMonkeyMojo says:

Or move everything to iPernity. Large community with more and MUCH better features.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

stevestuff says:

Join me in my logo contest for Yahoo’s new logo: webdesignbysteve.com/blog/?p=58
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

jurvetson says:

*sigh*

It's just not fair for Stewart and Caterina to see their baby consumed by the borg. Makes me think of escape clauses in M&A deals (if Microsoft takes over later, we can buy back the company). When Microsoft bought Hotmail, all but three employee bailed within a year, including both founders... and these were painful decisions given the unvested shares.

I don't think I have shared this anywhere before, but when Yahoo made its offer to buy Ludicorp (flickr), I was trying as best I could to convince them not to sell... and stay independent (with a investment from us of course). I so wish that had happened...

(and that's when I bought my first digital camera.... and experimented with photography for the first time... so it's mighty nostalgic for me now... where I take over 2000 photos on a vacation and don't think twice about it...)

I try not to use Microsoft products, and this is really bumming me out.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

biotron says:

me too - let's hope for a negative response from Yahoo, although i don't know how likely that actually is given the current economic climate...
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

thank you all for the comments and sharing your concerns. Yeah, bio, lets hope for yahoo to decline, but the operation seems to be imminent.

jurvey, thanks for the input. According to this article www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/02/01/yahoo-– -semel-mic... (and the comment below it from a guy from IBM), what you say about the experience with hotmail employees will likely happen too in this case... very sad, really.

Thank you too for sharing that bite of info regarding the flickr sale... didn´t know, we never talked about it ideed. It´s comforting to know you tried to do something about it. I thought by that time, I remember, "why is that no-one is helping these guys out (Ludicorp) so that they don´t have to sell themselves to Yahoo?"... it remained all so confusing to me. Finally I came to the conclusion that it must have been part of the primal investors´ contract, that flickr would be someday sold to yahoo. Now it seems this was not the case. That they had the freedom to choose, and they chose to sell. Bewildering... everything would have been sooooo different. Flickr is not "just another network"... it was special, and they would have made it even more special had they remained owners, a private company, in these times of big fishes eating every single small fish they can...

I wish too they had accepted your offer. I know you are very fond of them also, and hoped for their best. But well, hey... as Mattisse says: "It requires courage to see things as we never saw them before"... it requires courage to go against the tide.

Unfortunately this Microsoft / Yahoo thing comes to make everything worse... as they are planning to cancel out many similar services they have (they are considering what to keep or how to merge: hotmail / yahoomail... msn / yahoo portal... etc...) It´s terrible.

Totally bummer.

ps: I just read the point on the escape clauses (I think you added that after I read the comment yesterday?)... well, wow, can that be possible? Are they already included in the flickr contract with Yahoo?It would be great...
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Anoop A says:

"Did they merge?" by Anoop A [?]

Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

oh. =´(
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

Interesting view of the matter. I think they will have a problem merging. It´s not about being or not being at startup company, it´s their nature totally different: Microsoft is a software company, Yahoo is a dot com company. Two different conceptions, two different kind of employers/employees. I dare say: two different generations.

But I cannot tell myself either what may happen...
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

SATOBOY - SOCIAL VANDALISM & NETWORK ACTIVISM says:

Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

Hahahaaaaaaaa! LOL! I love the Explorer icon for the Explore... !!! :D
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

el baloO* says:

=(
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

alvarezperea says:

Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Mr. Chenko says:

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Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

AndreuRobusté (tonostudio) says:

Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

Yahoo investor wants more Microsoft Money
www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/02/08/yahoo-i nvestor-want...

The made me remember the Hotmail-Microsoft negotiation... perhaps Yahoo investors remembered or someone -Steve? ;) - made them remember it. As far as I know (but Steve, again, you may correct me), in the end the negotiation closed in 400 million that microsoft paid for hotmail. After that, microsoft said (and here goes the moral, the part to keep in mind) ::

"We would have paid more."

With people like that, if you are going to make business, you have to have in mind statements like that... (even when they sound like plain pedantery, no one on the other side of the negotiation table wants to hear that afterwards!)

...i think!
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Mr. Chenko says:

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Found in a search. (?)
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

You think?
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Igor Alecsander says:

Noooo :s
Seguis trabajando con SEO?

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Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

GrooveArchive says:

the conventional perception is that microsoft will introduce its stain to any new aquisition. we've all seen it happen. but these days, microsoft should consider what ' it ' can learn from ' its ' new partners. they are closer to the consumer than microsoft is at the moment. flickr fills more needs than vista. moreso what was the development cost of flickr vs anything microsoft has put our in recent memory. bet it wasn't as costly as office or vista.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

trumpetflickr says:

How sad would this be indeed, personally I would leave Flickr... a sad thing since I like the fact Yahoo has kept Flickr clean, reliable, independent and very successful.

It is a real pity when we see capitalism unleashed this way on a good company, that is making good money, just not "enough" to satisfy the stockholders.

Me encantan tus fotos por cierto, y la profundidad de tus analisis... que planeas hacer si finalmente pasa?
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Gulliver says:

voy a ser original y hacer mi comentario en castellano: por un lado que estas corporaciones crezcan y crezcan y sigan comprando todo lo que se les cruza me inspira una instintiva aprehensión - que bien puede ser mi paranoide prejuicio - seguro que es mas lo que podemos perder que ganar... pero también puede ser que de tanto expanderse exploten como una burbuja de gas metano (...una nube de p...s). ninguna de las dos cosas son buenas.
por ahora estamos bastante bien con nuestro querido flickr... mientras haya electricidad, internet, servidores en un lugar seguro, petróleo, programadores y usuarios, con tan solo esto poco... vamos bien.
ahora sí: si todo viene como lo pinta el amiguito Gore... agarrate Catalina, digo agarrate Gisella porque mucho no nos queda...

ahh... and sorry because my spanish.
Posted 21 months ago. ( permalink )

.PolloPatagonico. says:

mas claro imposible.

besotòn
Posted 21 months ago. ( permalink )

jurvetson says:

Ah, but there is new hope.... Polaroid to the rescue!

Posted 20 months ago. ( permalink )

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

hey, one thing I didn´t say there at your pic... I had heard that polaroid closed about 2 weeks ago... possibly another branch -factory?- of the company?

great news i would be to have these two merge...

flickroid !!
Posted 20 months ago. ( permalink )

grace_haugen@yahoo.com says:

Yahoo
Posted 17 months ago. ( permalink )

sammysk says:

Ha ha. That's so cool. I would hate it for Microsoft to buy Yahoo!
Posted 15 months ago. ( permalink )

theCAR! says:

haha this is really cute.
Posted 12 months ago. ( permalink )

nevershouthannahh says:

grr, microsoft.
Posted 5 months ago. ( permalink )

vapsss says:

I dislike hotmail and also their messenger with useless versions, advertising, etc.... I wish that we could do something to improve the situation of yahoo so they won't sell it ... maybe use the yahoo messenger instead the one of hotmail ? We should do it. Yahoo mail is the most reliable mail... and that could change if Microsoft buys it!!!!!!!!!!! OK I'LL CHANGE THE MESSENGER OF HOTMAIL (WHICH I HATE) FOR THE YAHOO ONE. Anyway the yahoo messenger is much better than the useless versions/too heavy ones of Windows. IF I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING TO SUPPORT YAHOO. I'LL DO IT. Do it also and pass the word
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )