Microsoft and Yahoo Are Linked Up. Now What?

There's plenty of skepticism about whether Microsoft and Yahoo can make a serious dent in Google's dominance in Internet search and advertising. Even with the deal, the Microsoft-Yahoo search operation will be dwarfed by Google — with a 28 percent market share in the United States, versus 65 percent — and will face an uphill struggle to try to wean people away from Google's simple white search page. If Yahoo and Microsoft cannot persuade people to switch, they will not build the larger audience that will bring in more revenue from ads tied to searches. "This battle is won or lost as the user sits at the keyboard," said Peter S. Fader, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and co-director of its Interactive Media Initiative. "Google is winning for good, consumer-friendly reasons. You can't just buy that."