Now THIS would be awesome... I'm a fan of anything Microsoft can do to toss some waves at Google's smooth sailing.

http://news.com.com/2061-11199_3-6077695.html

I think it could also be very good for eBay, PayPal, Skype, etc.

I can see Microsoft buying ebay. Probably will have a computer reading you the description of the auction and how much you are bidding.

Well, at least Billy will soon be gone (is 2 years soon?), as he's going to give up the day-to-day grind and concentrate on his charity stuff. Hope he makes Steve Ballmer "retire" early too, or there could be way too much chair throwing and f***ing this and f***ing that going on.

I don't much like MSFT (surprise!). I'm tired of Google. I don't want to use a search engine that calls itself something as lame as Yahoo! What's a person to do????

Seriously, I don't like eBay becoming a part of Microsoft. They could choose a better option, such as maybe the up and coming Ask.com (formerly Ask Jeeves), which has really made an impression on a lot of people since they dropped the butler from the act. Hmmm ....

That's what I thought, that Ask.com was an up and comer. I asked about it on a techy forum and was told that its impact is negligible. I'm just curious about whether others have heard differently.

I'm not a fan of mega companies getting bigger and bigger and bigger and ... so I'm not really thrilled about Micro$oft buying eBay.

So Ask.com is creeping up on Google? Hmmm ...

I have to agree. I think we need to do more to stop the big conglomerates from having such power. Look at the special interest groups now with all the political power. We have only three media outlets for news now. Not a good turn of events.

It's been since May and no further word or action so maybe we can breath a sigh of relief, or disappointment, depending on your particular bent. I'm just as happy for Microsoft not to keep adding things to a service that's already bulky and isn't doing anything different or better than anyone else.

I don't mind if companies get bigger as long as they are fair. But most of the time, when a company starts to get really big, then they start charging more for there services until it get out of hand.

What do you mean by fair? Fair as in, what you'd be willing to pay? Because if you are not responsible for inventing these services, the only dictation you should have is what you're willing to pay for them. They can charge whatever they want - it belongs to them!