Microsoft to Take on Google?

Microsoft put in a bid this morning to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion. Having failed to become a big competitor in the search industry, Microsoft is pulling out the wallet and banking on Yahoo to increase their competitiveness.

While I do think acquiring Yahoo will greatly help their position in the search industry, I do not think they will be a match for the likes of Google. Yahoo has steadily been increasing their Web 2.0 functionality, but is, in my opinion, still no match for Google's search ingenuity.

The majority of web users prefer Google for quick and well-rounded search results. That said, however, Yahoo is more of a community portal and has probably survived this long for that very reason.

Microsoft, slowly going the way of the buffalo due to the rapid direction the Internet and personal computing are heading, has probably realized the dire importance to break through as a true competitor on the social web. Acquiring Yahoo is a good decision on their part.

If the acquisition is successful, will Microsoft place as big of an importance on the social web as Yahoo has? If not, they might as well drop their bid now. My money is still on Google.