Yahoo! Says No Means No! Sorta

Microsoft and aggressive Yahoo! shareholder Carl Icahn sent the web company another proposal to sell Yahoo! search to Microsoft. Included in the deal were provisions that the rest of the company would be handed over to Icahn, more of less, a known Internet novice.

I could try to reiterate what a lot of other people have said, but think I'll just settle for links:

Yahoo rejects joint proposal from Microsoft, Icahn
Yahoo lashes out at Microsoft over latest offer
Why Yahoos shouldn't underestimate Icahn

I am reassured, for the moment, that Microsoft really only wants the search business, since I don't use Yahoo! search, but still...

As a user, I am dismayed that Yahoo! offered Microsoft the whole enchilada for $33/share at the same time they rejected the joint MS/Icahn proposal. I use a lot of other Yahoo!'s currently free services and free is a word they don't seem familiar with in Redmond, Washington...

Users are not stockholders, for the most part, and have been largely ignored in this fight, but the stockholders need to remember that USERS are what makes Yahoo! profitable, too. And most of the Yahoo! users I know don't want Microsoft that deep in their lives. Many of them, like me, will shift the rest of the way over to Google if MS eats Yahoo!

*Please note the above is MY opinion; I happen to know Candy loves her Yahoo!