Google Responds to Microsoft
Their statement is openly critical of Microsoft business practices and asks, "Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC?" Yowza.
Google also points out that, "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," and begs that regulatory authorities and consumers take a hard look at the deal.
I doubt that email and instant messaging accounts are going to ruin any merger, should it happen at all. There's still lots of competition for those areas. Network traffic, on the other hand, might be a different deal.
Regulators have been a lot harder on Google than they have on Yahoo! or Microsoft when it came to purchasing banner advertising companies similar to Google's acquisition of DoubleClick. Microsoft was one of the loudest critics of the Google-DoubleClick deal. Looks like turnabout is fair play.
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