RSSAOL to Choose: Microsoft or Google
By Nate Mook | Published October 27, 2005, 12:17 PM
According to reports, Time Warner's board of directors is hunkering down Thursday for discussions on the future of AOL, and is expected to choose between partnering with Microsoft's MSN division or Google. However, a final decision is not expected for a few weeks, says the Financial Times.
AOL currently utilizes Google for its Web search service, bringing a moderate percentage of revenue to the world's biggest search engine. But MSN has reportedly come to the table trying to unseat Google in order to grow its own share of the search market, which it has struggled to do organically.
Rumors have also circled that a deal with either search provider could be more comprehensive, including a sale of the AOL.com Web portal or even a financial investment in the company. However, recent moves and statements by both AOL and Time Warner indicate a sale of any sort is highly unlikely.
Comcast was said to be included in Google's bid, but neither company is commenting on the matter. Yahoo has also reportedly made an offer, but only Microsoft and Google are in serious discussions with AOL at the present time, sources say.
In addition, Instant messaging interoperability was reportedly on the table as part of a deal with MSN, but that was before Google joined the apparent bidding war. Microsoft recently inked a deal with Yahoo to open up communications between the two companies' IM networks.
Microsoft and Time Warner are not commenting on the situation to the press, and Google has dismissed rumors of MSN taking its place. "Google and AOL have a healthy global partnership and AOL remains a valued partner," the company said.
That leaves MS. I would love to see MS take on the AOL crowd. They, both MS and the AOLers deserve no less.
To each his own hell. Yes you are right I call aol the junk yard of the www . please if it must be let it be ms
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|That leaves MS. I would love to see MS take on the AOL crowd. They, both MS and the AOLers deserve no less.
To each his own hell. yes I think you are right , aol the junk yard of the www .why would google wont that kind of problem to deal with ???
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|Microsoft or Yahoo. Google sucks.
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|You're not going to tell us why "Google sucks.", eh? Give readers something to sink their teeth in to. Saying something sucks doesn't say a darned thing.
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|Google needs to have their ears clipped a bit. As stated many times Google was a great company until success clouded their own mission statement and then went public. Now it's about money not quality and to many projects not very well done. Microsoft could make a difference only because the vision of Microsoft is much different than Googles, but they are different types of buinesses. Anyway you look at it it's going to be a tough road for either company.
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|Ah yes, the Microsoft vision. To be rid of every scrap of compatition they have. How do they do this, they throw money at anyone who gets in their way. If that doesn't work they throw lawyers at em. Then if that doesn't toally do the job they try the money again.
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|It's either
M$ pwns AOHell pwns Engadget pwns PSP fanboys
-or-
Google pwns AOHell pwns Engadget pwns PSP fanboys
so...either way Sony loses.
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|I think what bothers me post here is the flat out ignorace some folks have when looking at the offerings that AOL currently has, being over consumed by the general negative impression the media has given of AOL for the last 5 years in paticular. In terms of an ISP, AOL still holds 20 Million subscribers. Many either do not yet have broadband available or do not care to give up their simplicity. Then, on top of that, AOL represents 12% of google's searches amassing to a large bit of revenue for both companies. AOL also has moved itself into the web portal arena away from its typical subscription model to provide a place for those consumers leaving its heavy client subscription service to come and take advantage of many of the feature they enjoyed as legacy customers.
The AOL brand as a hole has both good and bad images associated. As mentioned in some other folks post here, AIM. Add to that, AIM.com, AOL.com, and the media distribution that the company is providing online now, it would make one wonder why other companies wouldn't take advantage of the numerous channels this company offers in order to distrubte advertising and rich media.
Add to all of this, AOL is one of the most active spam fighting companies in the world right now. They are actively persuing and procecuting spam, spim, and other such annoyances that EVERYONE deals with daily.
I do not deny that AOL has acted like the borg in years past consuming up smaller companies and ruining what was great about them just to roll those products into a cumbersome product offering. But many of you need to wake up and smell the $$, AOL is on its way to be a very active player in the internet portal and ad/media distribution worlds.
Cheers!
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|lmao...
"The AOL brand as a hole "
Couldn't have said it better my self.
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|omg. I read this comment three times and didn't get it until just now.
ROFL
That's funny.
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|"Preperation H:
Sure, it feels great, on the hole."
Must stop watching Austin Powers...
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|oh gosh...
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|kholdstare
posted Oct 27, 2005 - 3:05 PM
well we all know anything AOL buys is doomed from the beginning so i wonder what will happen when a company buys AOL they are probly going to be twice as doomed :)
this is so true.
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|I agree with PC_Tool, AOL should just die, it's doomed and cursed and if MS buys it then MSN will be doomed for eternity, same with Google. No one deserves to have to put up with AOL anymore.
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|The AOL service is not that bad, even the AOL search is not that bad(they only problem with this is that it uses google engine which has been crap for the last year)
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|No the problem with AOL is their pathetic tech support and that horrid all in one client software they have. Better off trying to solve your problems on your own.
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|I am no fan of Microsoft but if they do buy AOL, the best thing they can do is switch all the users over to their software and scrap all that bulky AOL software.
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|Their AOL all in one interface AOL 8 is fine for the average person. I use it, but use IE when I visit website. Never used tech support since I can figure out most of the problems mayself
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|I called tech support once, from then on I figured it out myself.
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|Best case sceanrio?
AOL simply dies. Goes quietly buh-bye into that great good-night and is never heard from, spoken of, or remembered ever again.
Since this is unlikely to happen....
I don't want Google to buy them. Yes, Google is flush with cash, but the last thing any company with *everything* going for it needs to do is get themselves burdened with the support/resurrection costs and problems of a dying breed.
That leaves MS. I would love to see MS take on the AOL crowd. They, both MS and the AOLers deserve no less.
To each his own hell.
Muahahahaa......
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|Cat got yer tongue? :P
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|Most insightful comment yet!
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|well we all know anything AOL buys is doomed from the beginning so i wonder what will happen when a company buys AOL they are probly going to be twice as doomed :)
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|Dey don't haff to marry, yasee, all they gotta do is live together. =D
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|If AOL chooses MSFT over google the AOL search engine whould be far better. If MSN can intergrate with AOL, man would the AIM browser be better. I dropped AIM for MSN for speed and reliablity.
MSFT all the way
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|i just hope that aol chooses google to be bought by as this would increase the chance of google beating microsoft. Google is by far the better company out of the 3
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|well i'lls tick with this point of view, msn and yahoo are working together so msn doesn't need aol as much as google does, so go google buy aol out! or something
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|hm yh but theres some rumour about how microsoft and google are actually together. but im not sure...
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|Microsoft and Google together? As MS sues Google over taking one of their CEOs? I doubt it.
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|You can be friends and still fight.
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|Too late. You missed it. Now I'M going to make mega-millions on my free iPod scam, and you won't.
Sorry. You snooze you lose.
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|Doesn't this seem like a lose-lose situation? AOL only has one desirable asset left: AOL Instant Messenger. If that's not part of the deal, what's the point?
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|AOL has many desirable assets left... about 20 million of them actually. Since this doesn't sound like the present discussions revolve around the outright sale of AOL the thing to consider is how much revenue does google lose if AOL doesn't use their search engine... and how much does MS gain.
Think of this more then just those 20 million people using the engine. With less people using it pay per click revenue falls. Also people advertising with google will have to switch some of their advertising to MS in order to reach the same people. And once again the overal pay per click of google's ads goes down.
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|So basically if AOL partners with MSN, which I hope they don't, this could be devistating for Google.
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|Everybody seems to forget that AOL is yes, profitable! Which means that if you somehow gave AOL a brain, they would make more money, not less.
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