With all the noise about the potential “deal” with Microsoft and Yahoo, it’s easy to forget that the combined company would have around 50% of the total search traffic of Google. While a Microhoo “merger” would provide wider distribution for Yahoo paid search (if you are like Mr. Tangy who is currently ignoring Microsoft’s paid seach), it would still remain a distant second. According to recent comScore data, search traffic appears to be flattening in the US. Does this mean the battle for Web supremacy is over and Microsoft has lost? I know Mr. Ballmer is not one to give up.

Proactive moves with Facebook will certainly increase Microhoo’s (Yasoft’s?) reach into the Web 2.0 arena but in the end of the day the titans of Redmond WA continue make most of their profits from desktop and enterprise software. While tinkering with file formats in Office will squeeze a few more dollars out of their legacy Windows platform, one has to wonder if they are still thinking it is 1999 and they can still win the search wars (when the real battles are elsewhere)?

I read in the Wall Street Journal this morning that Google and Microsoft are in an epic battle for the hearts and minds (and ad dollars) of Facebook. Besides not knowing who to cheer for, my mind drifted to Geocities and Tripod (what ever happened to them?). Then in the “Money and Investing” section, Dennis K. Berman offers a cautionary tale based on the rise and fall of an earlier generation of community sites.

Did you know that only nine of the top 20 most trafficked sites on Aug 2003 are still on that list?

The author highlights the need for continual innovation to keep the community fresh and alive – sensible advice for prevent users from chasing the next interesting thing (I didn’t say fad) after graduating from high school or college.