Yahoo Blows a Raspberry, but the Buying Goes On
February 11th, 2008 by Justin Ryan
Buy is the word of the day today among the Big Boys of Tech, with just about everybody looking to add someone else to their list of acquisitions. Without further adieu, here's the rundown.
Of course, the biggest brouhaha in the buyout realm is Microsoft's bid for Yahoo, which earned Big Evil a resounding "Sod off" from the Board of Directors — apparently, they felt the $44 billion offer was "undervalued." Meanwhile, they're reportedly scrambling to reignite merger talks with AOL, along with all the other potential deals they're exploring. Getting the virtual bitten-thumb doesn't seem to have cooled the mood in Redmond, as the Empire was busy celebrating the acquisition of Danger, the company best known for building T-Moble's Sidekick. Something tells us we aren't the first outlet to ponder the irony of Microsoft looking for more danger...
Meanwhile, Big G — the third leg in the Microsoft-Yahoo kerfluffle — was busying itself elsewhere, with reports circulating that the search giant wants a piece of CNET. Nobody's willing to talk about it, except the analysts of course, but investors were certainly taking notice, pushing both company's shares up nicely. Google also made waves last week with the introduction of a new edition of Google Apps which will be able to circumvent network security restrictions in corporate offices, allowing workers to adopt the package even if their managers won't give the green light. Google swears it's just about teamwork, but one wonders how long it will take until the seething IT managers grab their torches and head for the castle — err, Googleplex.
While Google waits for the IT mob to arrive, the wait is over for those anxious to see the first deployment of Google's Android mobile platform. A range of companies have announced they will have prototypes of Android phones on display at this week's Mobile World Congress — including Texas Instruments, ARM Holdings, and Qualcomm, among others — and T-Mobile is pledging to have Android phones on sale before the end of the year.
In other mobile Linux news, the LiMo Foundation has gotten a boost this week, as a number of vendors supporting the rival LiPS Forum have announced plans to jump ship and join LiMo. LiMo announced today that it will be unveiling a variety of handsets utilizing its platform during the Mobile World Congress.
That's all for now, back tonight with Spanish socializing, disappearing Polaroids, and the age-old debate "Sex or TV?"
__________________________
Justin Ryan is News Editor for LinuxJournal.com.
Submit a tip: Email IRC
Special Magazine Offer -- 2 Free Trial Issues!
Receive 2 free trial issues of Linux Journal as well as instant online access to current and past issues. There's NO RISK and NO OBLIGATION to buy. CLICK HERE for offer
Linux Journal: delivering readers the advice and inspiration they need to get the most out of their Linux systems since 1994.
Sorry, offer available in the US only. International orders, click here.
Subscribe now!
The Latest
Featured Videos
Email is one of the least private and least secure forms of communication, although few people realize this. MixMaster is one way to allow secure, anonymous communication even over the very public medium of email. This tutorial will get you started with MixMaster quickly and easily.
In case you were wondering about the fun side of Linux World Expo, we thought we'd give you a peek at our shenanigans. We at Linux Journal love what we do so much, that we can't help but have a ball wherever we go.
Recently Popular
From the Magazine
September 2008, #173
Feeling a bit like a Thermian? Never give up, never surrender! Someday, you could go from underdog to top dog. Just take a look at a few of the underdogs we highlight in this issue: Mutt, djbdns, Nginix, Gentoo, Xara and the program voted mostly likely to fail just a few years back—Firefox. If Firefox is not radical enough for you, check out Chef Marcel's column for some more alternatives. Having trouble mapping your program data to your relational database? If so, Rueven Lerner shows you some tricks in his At The Forge column.
Need to run GUI applications on your server in the next state? In his Paranoid Penguin column, Mick Bauer shows you how to do it securely. Kyle Rankin keeps hacking and slashing and shows you a few split screen secrets you may not be familiar with. Finally, we all know what happens next February, but only Doc knows what happens afterward.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Newsvine
Technorati






