Damn the Man! Save Yahoo!

While I will be the first to admit I have not actively used the Yahoo! search engine in years it would be a shame to lose one of the largest contributers and innovators to the Internet and Open Source software at large to the Microsoft machine.

In the mid-1990’s when I started using the Web I started using Yahoo! regularly on my treks explore as much of the fledging Web as possible. I liked the Yahoo! structure so much, I originally shunned the upstart Google, but alas I relented before the turn of the century and made the switch to Google for searching. However I still kept in touch with what Yahoo! was working on such as Pipes, Konfabulator, Yahoo Stores, Yahoo Music, HotJobs, etc. I also started using products from a company that Yahoo! purchased in September of 2007, Zimbra. Nearly all of these services are listed here.

Yahoo is also a very large user of Linux, Apache, MySQL and many, many other Open Source products, as a result they also contribute to these products on a regular basis. If Microsoft buys Yahoo! this will cease to be the case in the long run. All of this innovation will be lost.

What can Yahoo! do? They can create a corporate poison pill. Unfortunately they will likely be sued if they do, just as they are already being sued by their institutional share holders for simply doing what they were empowered and elected to do, look out for what is best for the company. When this contradicts what the shareholders want in profits does the board have the obligation to relent?

Whay can we do as the public at large to save such a great institution? Buy Yahoo! stock and make your voice heard to the board, write letters and emails. Use those newly purchased shares of Yahoo! stock to vote in the forced board election that Microsoft so badly wants.