So Yahoo released earnings info today, which was followed by mildly negative even if hopeful commentary. Google, of course, being cited as the major obstacle. It got me thinking about the fact that I don’t use any of Yahoo’s major offerings (meaning: search, email, or advertising). I don’t do this on purpose; it’s just the way my online habits have evolved, I suppose.
I use Google for email (with Microsoft’s Hotmail as my spam account), Google for search (occasionally MSN as my second source, though Amazon’s A9.com has been taking that spot lately), and Google for advertising.
But what about all this new “web 2.0 / social networking” available from these companies? Well, I use Google’s Picasa over Yahoo’s Flick’r, and I prefer Blue Dot over Yahoo’s del.icio.us. However, Yahoo did just acquire MyBlogLog (implemented on this site), which I love and use. So there you have it: I think I used next to nothing from Yahoo until MyBlogLog became part of the family.
But I do use a dozen or so of Google’s free online toys (including the recently acquired YouTube) while Microsoft doesn’t really represent as well in this category (though Microsoft is the only company of the three that knows how to diversify: While busy competing with Google and Yahoo in the online arena, it’s also busy milking its cash cows of operating system and office suites while making a major move into the gaming / gadget industry with the Xbox, Zune, etc.).
In any event, I’ve never been thrilled by Yahoo. Google and Microsoft, on the other hand, are responsible for a big chunk of my online/tech experience.
