There were a couple different direction Mayer could have gone with Yahoo. Previous management was clearly considering taking Yahoo down the path of big Media, and monetizing the eyeballs by increasing engagement, whatever that took.

Mayer is hearkening back to the days of yore, when Yahoo was seen as a cool technology startup that the best engineers were excited about working at.

I have no idea which of those paths is the more profitable, or has the greatest chance of returning shareholder value, but I think we all know which one has the best chance of grabbing the imagination, and attracting the best employees.

Yahoo's roots are... a tardily updated directory of neat things on the web.

It had a certain amount of charm, but I don't miss it, particularly. Although they did have a great MUD index.

As long as she listens to the employees that do, that's a step forward.

I guess she did not meant it literally. I think She's going back to building new innovative products ground up. Pretty much roots of any (successful) company.