Kikabink News

According to tech journalist Kara Swisher, some members of Yahoo’s board of directors have renewed discussions with Microsoft about a possible sale of the company to Microsoft.

Such talks appear to be the result of the AOL-Yahoo merger talks making little progress, and fears that the Justice Department will block Yahoo’s proposed advertising deal with Google.

Source: Kara Swisher, “The Deal Dance: AOL and Yahoo (and Even Google and Microsoft) Continue to Waltz”, All Things Digital, October 28, 2008

AdGooroo reports that in the third quarter of 2008 Microsoft benefited from a 19.3% increase in active first page advertisers, the biggest quarterly increase since AdGooroo began measuring advertising activity in April 2007.

Moreover, compared with a year ago, Live Search has grown its active advertiser base by almost 32%, placing it in the strongest position its ever been in.

Google, meanwhile, has had a mixed quarter. Although AdGooroo recorded a 3% increase in active advertisers, Google’s ad coverage dropped to its lowest levels in August and September, suggesting that August and September may have been weak months.

AdGooroo believes that May’s roll-out of the new AutoMatch algorithm has not made up for the attrition of small advertisers. The impact of Google’s algorithm change in mid-September - one which appears to undo some of the aggressive quality control measures which have purged advertisers (and spends) since July 2007 – is yet to be seen.

Yahoo experienced no significant change in ad growth. AdGooroo measured a 2.5% decrease in active first-page advertisers, but noticed no significant changes in other metrics.

Source: AdGooroo Q308 search marketing research report now available Search Engine Advertiser Update – Q308 October 9, 2008

Microsoft has announced the pre-release of its next Windows operating system named… Windows 7.

Microsoft will release details of Windows 7 at the upcoming PDC and WinHEC events, when it will share a pre-beta “developer only release” with attendees of both shows and give them a broad in-depth look at the platform.

Vista blogger, Mike Nash, says the decision to use the name ‘Windows 7′ reflects a desire for simplicity. Since the company doesn’t ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date didn’t make sense; nor did Microsoft wish to come up with an all-new “aspirational” name that would undermine its aspirations for Windows Vista.

In any case, Microsoft plans to reveal more details about Windows 7 in the coming months.

Source: Mike Nash, “Introducing Windows 7″, Windows Vista Blog, October 13, 2008

Microsoft plans to establish research centers in Britain, France and Germany in an effort to improve its Internet search technology.

According to Microsoft chief executive, Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft will create three ‘centers of excellence’ — near Paris, in London and in Munich — which together will employ several hundred people.

Mr Ballmer declined to say how much the company would invest, but it’s understood that Microsoft’s investment in France, Germany and Britain will result in tax breaks for the company.

Source: Eric Pfanner, “Microsoft Unveils Plan for 3 Labs in Europe”, The New York Times, October 2, 2008

According to comScore, Yahoo had the most email users in the U.S. in August, with 88.4 million. Following Yahoo were Microsoft’s Windows Live Hotmail with 45.2 million users, AOL with 44.8 million users, and Gmail with 26.0 million users.

Yahoo mail users also spent the most time using their email at 286 minutes per month, followed by AOL users (229 minutes), Microsoft users (204 minutes) and Gmail (82 minutes).

Source: Saul Hansell, “AOL’s Luddites Love Their email More than Google’s Geeks”, The New York Times, Sep 12, 2008