Microsoft dating Yahoo: Friendship may turn into Marriage

Remember when Yahoo rejected a proposal by Microsoft who was interested in acquiring a stake in Yahoo's search business.

The idea was later dropped by Microsoft itself with MSFT executives saying that Yahoo! was more a content company than a tech company and Bill Gates had no interest in owning a content company.

However, Microsoft seems to have revived some interest in Yahoo again. This time however, the common enemy is AOL [Google owns 5% stake in AOL]

According to the latest Yahoo-Microsoft deal, uers of Yahoo Messenger and MSN Windows Live Messenger will be able to chat with friends on both services while logged on to either program just like Trillian or Meebo.

AOL leads the Instant Messaging market but Yahoo-Windows Live combined duo could make a significant dent in AOL's market share. Google Talk has a fairly low penetration to be considered a threat to any of the top messaging programs but Google Talk will eventually be interoperable with AIM.

So, what's coming next ? Merger of Yahoo 360° with MSN Spaces Or Merger of Yahoo Inc. with Microsoft Inc.