http://yourbiz.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/15/879663.aspxIt’s like we’re watching a scene from that dumb reality show, “The Bachelor,” and in this case the bachelor is Yahoo. Who will walk down the aisle with Yahoo? Microsoft? Google? Time Warner’s AOL? Even News Corp. is getting into the act, consideringen-USCommunityServer 2.0 (Build: 60608.1)http://yourbiz.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/15/879663.aspx#901589Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:45:44 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:901589Pay Per Click JournalSounds a lot like the description Andy Beal gave on the scenario -- it's one big soap opera.  We do believe what you said is true...the first idea of how Microsoft should manage Yahoo if they merged but right now it's looking like it won't be happening anytime soon?http://yourbiz.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/15/879663.aspx#902133Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:16:53 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:902133Miki DzuganI need to clarify the quote above, “People hate using Microsoft. They are arrogant ..." This is not intended to reflect on the AdCenter service staff. The service staff of AdCenter is very responsive to the customer, regardless of size, and do the best that they can within the limitations of the software architecture to help a customer achieve their goals. In my experience, both AdCenter and Yahoo are  more responsive to the little guy than Google.http://yourbiz.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/15/879663.aspx#902905Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:44:44 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:902905David Mihm, Portland ORThe Local search market is already so fragmented that business owners barely have enough time to figure out Adwords, let alone AdCenter AND YSM.  Combining the two and minimizing the amount of time and energy spent managing bids and keywords on separate systems would seem to me to be a blessing, regardless of which platform is the end result...the real nightmare scenario would be if nothing changes on the back end of paid search despite the merger, which isn't likely to happen, IMHO.http://yourbiz.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/15/879663.aspx#915154Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:50:03 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:915154Anup Batra, Melbourne, VictoriaThe merger is driven by the commercial interests of the entities and not by the needs of the Business Owner. From the point of view of the business owner, competition and varied offerings is always better. Astute online marketers will always leverage on the disparities which exist between different online media and capitalise on them for higher ROI.http://yourbiz.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/15/879663.aspx#1317638Mon, 01 Sep 2008 07:26:41 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:1317638George Cleanthous, Sydney, NSWPersonally I am glad that Microsoft and Yahoo did not merge.  Microsoft would have corrupted and commercialized Yahoo more than it already is and if adCenter is more difficult to use than Yahoo Search Marketing then we are better off, since the Yahoo interface is already far too limited.  Even for small business owners I find that many still find it time consuming to make multiple changes in their Yahoo PPC campaign, particularly if all you want to do is change the ad text in all of your ad groups or simply change the CPC for keywords in multiple ad groups simultaneously. It does have some benefits over Google, like the simplicity of keyword phrase variations, but overall the interface, in my opinion, needs a major overhall.  I think if they changed the interface we wouldn't need Yahoo to merge with another major company in order to compete with Google, it would be able to compete on its own.  I guess we'll see how things turn out in the future, but I am still happy the take-over did not go through.