Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

There was an interesting interview by CNET with Bill Gates.  In it, he answers the question why Microsoft wants/needs Yahoo.  The big twist, if you want to call it that, was this quote:

"It involves breakthrough engineering. We think that the combination with Yahoo would accelerate things in a very exciting way, because they do have great engineers, they have done a lot of great work. So, if you combine their work and our work, the speed at which you can innovate and get things done is just dramatically more rapid. So, it's really about the people there that want to join in and create a better search, better portal for a very broad set of customers. That's the vision that's behind saying, hey, wouldn't this be a great combination."

The importance of this quote stresses how Bill Gates is attempting to soothe in Yahoo's engineers a notoriously weak point about engineers: their ego.  While I'm certain that the shareholders couldn't care less about this issue one way or another, the key for Microsoft to purchase Yahoo is through assuaging the internal strife from people who have zero desire to work for Microsoft.  This is very biblical on some levels as it's basically asking Christians to take a bite of the Apple in the Garden of Eden as Satan tempts Adam.  And certainly, many Yahoo people probably own a fair amount of stock within the company, so a buyout simply means that these people would be able to make more money.  On the surface, it seems like a win-win deal.

I won't go further about what makes this deal bad, as I had already covered this issue several times.  I do want to say that Bill Gates' reply to Yahoo's current stance is brilliant and is the tactic I would've taken and even suggested Google's lawyers in reprimanding Microsoft's push for the web space.  By complimenting what essential was an enemy for a good decade, Bill Gates is doing exactly what he did with IBM and Apple during the 80's.  He's simply partnering up with them and getting them to believe its in their best interest.

Watch Pirates of Silicon Valley to show the quote from the Steve Ballmer character in how he praised Bill Gates in handling Steve Jobs when they were stealing the ideas from the Mac to make Windows.  This is simply classic Bill Gates.  He knows that Ballmer can't execute the deal and that the only one that can handle it is Bill Gates.  You don't have to like the man, but you have to admire his business savvy.