Microsoft Makes $44.6B Offer on YahooMicrosoft Makes $44.6B Offer on Yahoo

So Microsoft has made an offer on Yahoo. I'm not sure this affects the UC side of Microsoft's business a lot, but I'm scheduled to speak with Gurdeep Singh Pall of Microsoft later today for a podcast, so I'll ask him.

So Microsoft has made an offer on Yahoo. I'm not sure this affects the UC side of Microsoft's business a lot, but I'm scheduled to speak with Gurdeep Singh Pall of Microsoft later today for a podcast, so I'll ask him.More significant could be the effect such a deal could have on Google. With Microsoft striking so close to the heart of Google's core business, presumably Google will have to respond by being even more aggressive in trying to shift the model to "cloud computing."

A lot of people are realizing that network-based communications services don't necessarily have to involve the hated word "Centrex," that communications capabilities could live in the cloud and still be flexible and not one-size-fits-all.

So if we enter a new era of blockbuster consolidation, how about a Google-Cisco merger of equals? It fits neither's modus operandi when it comes to M&As, but would a Microsoft-Yahoo combination change the playing field?

Just asking.

UPDATE: Info Week has the full text of Ballmer's letter making the offer.

UPDATE 2: Not a lot from Gurdeep--too early to tell, he said.