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Google responds to MS/Yahoo

• Darren Waters
• 3 Feb 08, 20:12 GMT

Google has been said by many to be the root cause of Microsoft's bid for Yahoo.

I would imagine that Google was abuzz with speculation and opinion once news emerged on Friday.

And now the company has .

On the firm's official blog, David Drummond, senior vice president, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, says the bid "raises troubling questions".

Mr Drummond cuts straight to the chase: "Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC?"

In other words, will use firm use the same anti-competitive pracitices in the online world that it has been found guilty of in the offline world, and caused it to be fined very heavily?

"Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services?" asks Mr Drummond, and by extension Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive.

This is clearly Google's opening move in a complex game of chess that will encompass ordinary users, politicians, regulators and businessmen.

The posting on the blog ends: "We take Internet openness, choice and innovation seriously. They are the core of our culture. We believe that the interests of Internet users come first -- and should come first -- as the merits of this proposed acquisition are examined and alternatives explored."

So to be clear: Google isn't a fan of this bid.

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