Doug LaRue wrote:
** Reply to message from Andrew Lentvorski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on Fri, 16 May
If Yahoo manages to fight this off, they're going to have to do exactly
that--extract more money from users.
really? Is that what Google is doing?
Yes. You need to take a look at what Google is doing to people bidding
on AdWords. There has been lots of screaming as to how Google has been
extracting money out of them. Much of it is Not Very Nice(tm).
There is also screaming about how Google has been wiping out smaller
businesses who can't keep up with PageRank and SEO optimization.
Businesses that have been happily sitting at Google's #1 spot for years
and doing just fine in business suddenly disappear--nothing on their
website changed, no reason given, no explanation available--just *poof*.
Business goes under.
Yes, it is Google's prerogative to make changes to their search engine.
However, they haven't been in the "Don't be evil(tm)" category for a
long time.
Why is the only way for Yahoo to make
more money is to pull it from the users? I don't see that as the only option.
Where else is it going to come from? What products does Yahoo have?
Yes, Microsoft is a known evil, and Yahoo is an unknown evil.
unknown evil? I see you've already spun them as a evil. Interesting.
Helping that company gain more control
is the worst thing for users than Yahoo running themselves out of business
by fighting them off. But that is just my opinion and if you want to peg
them as an evil because they changed your groups software and don't
do internationalization so be it. I'm sure you have already emailed their
developers to let them know your thoughts on internationalization.
I actually regard Yahoo as a "Known Evil" personally. I pointed out
what they did to the startups that were the progenitors to "Yahoo
Groups". They basically blasted them to bits and forced everybody onto
Yahoo groups (far fewer features, but far less maintenance cost). They
also tried to force the bigger ones behind a Pay-to-Play wall.
There are other instances. Remember--Yahoo was the big gun after the
end of the Portal Wars.
And I did complain. They told me to go pound sand. So I did.
Unfortunately, a *LOT* of other people did the same thing. They lost
something like 60% of the customer base they bought within 12 months for
various reasons--features, forcing everybody onto Yahoo logins (if you
force someone to give up their logname/email address you *by definition*
send them looking for another service), pay-to-play walls, etc. Not a
smart move.
Sounds just like Microsoft to me.
Even worse, if people were going to have to pay, they moved off of Yahoo
altogether and went with one of the hosting providers that had a *lot*
more features. And set up things like forums. What a PITA!
Practically every single group with which I am affiliated runs a forum
(unless they just run a mailing list). Gee, think they're saying
something about your "groups" implementation?
And who was there to provide ads for their website/forums?
Why, Google, of course. Sure, you got about 10 cents a year while
Google extracted thousands out of the advertisers (Sharing? What's
that?), but it was better than nothing, right?
The problem here is that Yahoo is now left only with those users who are
unwilling to pay for anything. So, you have to go hit the other side of
the transaction--the sellers/businesses. At that point, network effect
sets it. There is no point in paying for the ads on the second-place
site. So, Google can extract money, and everybody else sucks vacuum.
Personally, I think that the Yahoo/Microsoft merger would do a good job
of killing both. It's not like either of them have exhibited anything
like innovation in years. The problem is that it would leave Google
with a 90+% share of the market, and we all know what happens once a
monopoly sets in.
Google is already showing the signs. If MSN or Yahoo collapses, it's
going to get very ugly.
-a
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