2. Adding Yahoo!’s 30% market share to Google’s 60% market share would have raised the ire of the feds.  Yes, I know, this would not have been the same thing as if Google owned that 30%, but the fact remains, the partnership would have awoken the feds.

Quite simply: Yahoo! has been played like a fiddle.  Worse off, by even doing that little test with Google, Yahoo! is now less desirable to MSFT.  In MSFT’s eyes, YHOO’s search is tainted, it’s as if a groom finds out on the eve of his wedding that his wife is not quite a virgin.

Of course, I still think that MSFT has the hots for YHOO… but it will take its time, deservedly so.  After all, just because a girl tells you she is not interested or plays hard to get to the point of frustrating you does not mean you stop liking her.

That’s right, MSFT hearts YHOO.