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Comment by zoomzoom | Hacker News Reader

Google has a big opportunity here. Delicious is one of the best social search products out there. Any real google innovation in social would be boosted by the user data and brand. Not to mention the pr boost from saving them. Much as many on HN and elsewhere are suggesting the viability of alternatives, few of them seem to compare in terms of data and function right now. Not that this couldn't change quickly.

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Totally agree that Google should snap it up. If any company needs it, it's Google and passing this opportunity by would be a mistake on their part. Not to mention that Delicious could be sold at a lower price since they've announced that they've been put out and are looking for a company to buy them.

No! We are seeing time and time again that big companies acquiring sites that are not directly relevant to their core businesses leave those acquisitions floundering. Google has the same problems of acquisitions that have just disappeared.

If delicious is to survive and flourish, then the organisation that should run delicious should be an organisation that solely concentrates on running delicious. Perhaps spinning it off as a separate business entity is the right way.

Delicious has stagnated for far too long as it is. So either spin it out into an independent business entity with fresh ideas and initiative, or replace it with a federated platform to allow others to innovate on top of it.

Yeah, but who's going to come up with the operating capital to get that new entity started? Yahoo doesn't want to spend money on Delicious; that's why they're dumping it. And outside investors aren't going to be eager to put money into a company that's been stagnant for years. Granted, without Yahoo's mismanagement, Delicious might be able to become vibrant again; but "we're not crippled any more" is not exactly a compelling story to tell to investors.

I agree with the sentiment, but I really feel that Delicious gets stronger with integration into a bigger system. Delicious on its own is a great service. Integrated into gmail and google search, using the data to help me find more interesting content, is something that can actually compete with Facebook for mainstream adoption, once they start to roll-out data-driven features more deeply.

edit: personally, a takeover by a passionate team would be much more satisfying then a shutdown, just trying to point out what I see as an opportunity for the big G.

Hmm, Google's core competence is search. As many commenters pointed out yesterday (in the big "Yahoo shutting down Delicious" thread), Delicious is more than a place where people store their bookmarks; it can be used as a kind of alternative search engine as well. So I think it wouldn't be a bad fit. Also, Google has been trying to get "social" right, and this could be a part of the puzzle.

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