GOOGLE IS attempting to stir it again with regulators over Microsoft’s protracted attempt to buy Yahoo.

Ever since Microsoft said it wanted to pay vast amounts of apes, ivory and peacocks for Big Y!, the G-men have attempted to slip in a bit of poison to the deal, suggesting that this is the equivalent of squirreling away some cash when you’re playing Monopoly and also insist on being the banker.

The latest gripe reported by AP has Google founder Sergey Brin saying that " when you start to have companies that control the operating system, control the browsers, they really tie up the top web sites, and can be used to manipulate stuff in various ways. I think that's unnerving."

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that a lot of internet companies spend a lot of time talking about how
client/server companies are zombies and then reach for the panic button when they are challenged by the same companies?

To reiterate:

Microsoft will end up with Yahoo, a company that has already risked being whupped by shareholders by turning down a sweet deal for a stalling company.

Microsoft + Yahoo gives Google much-needed competition that should ensure the pair have a two-horse race to be the winner in internet properties.

This is good for all of us. When big companies go head to head, it always is -- providing regulators can prevent carve-ups.

The regulators are very hot on both Google and Microsoft so this last risk is minimised.

Amen. µ