Look at the recent startups bought by Yahoo. When was the last time you heard anything from them again? The one exception is Flickr, but they were profitable and on a rocket ride to the top before they got acquired. As for all the others, the users are wondering when they'll ever see a new feature.

So for all we know, the situation might be better for startups after a Microsoft-Yahoo merger.

Google's acquisitions tend to have some unique technology. Yahoo's acquisitions have mostly been innovators with media and audiences. Does anyone know if there's a pattern with Microsoft? Microsoft has said they want to acquire a bunch of startups.