Philip Maddocks: Presidential candidates call for Microsoft to concede Internet race
Philip Maddocks
On Sunday, all three presidential candidates called for Microsoft to concede to Google in the race for supremacy search-related advertising market.
"Frankly, it's embarrassing to see a once proud leader carry on like this when it is plain it cannot win against Google," said a spokesman for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
"The numbers are against them," the spokesman added, pointing out that Google already had about 60 percent of the United States market.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Microsoft had been a tough opponent but it was now time for him and the rest of the country to go back to their Google searches.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain said he believed that Google was Microsoft's worst nightmare and that Hamas felt the same way.
Microsoft downplayed the presidential candidates' statements, calling them sexist, elitist, and ageist.
The software giant has already begun airing ads showing a red phone ringing at 3 in the morning. The caller informs viewers that Microsoft has just completed a takeover of Yahoo and is on the way to creating an Internet powerhouse that could rival Google.
Microsoft, which has renewed talks with Yahoo, released a brief statement on Sunday saying that its claim several weeks ago that it had "moved on" after it withdrew its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo "had been taken out of context."
"Those that know us best know that we don't move on," read the statement. "That's why we are can't seem to catch up to Google and why we will not forget what each of you said and how you have wronged us."
A Microsoft spokesperson warned that if the presidential candidates "didn't start minding their own business," the software giant might jump into the race itself.
"We can make life miserable for anyone. Ask our employees. Ask Hamas," said a company spokesman.
Microsoft has vowed to fight on "even if Yahoo continues to spurn our offers."
"We never give up and we never get in," said a spokesman.
The calls for Microsoft to concede come amid its repeated efforts to show itself more competitive with Google. People involved in the discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo said the talks centered on a partnership or joint venture for search-related advertising to compete against Google. When Microsoft first made its unsolicited bid of $31 a share for Yahoo in February, it said it was doing so as part of its battle to increase its relatively small slice of the search-related advertising market against Google.
But this week, the company seemed to be taking an even broader view.
"We kind of like what that guy Obama has been doing," said a spokesman for Microsoft, referring to the Obama campaign's fund-raising machine, which has been powered by more than 1.5 million donors, the overwhelming majority of whom have given to him in small increments over the Internet.
The spokesman said Microsoft might consider a partnership deal with Obama, though he hinted the company may seek a takeover of his candidacy down the road.
As for Yahoo, Microsoft said it planned to woo some so-called super board members to "seal the deal."
"By our count we have more super board members than Google," said a Microsoft spokesman.
However, the three presidential candidates and their teams remained unconvinced.
"Microsoft could campaign like a hillbilly from now until the time I stop insulting my one-time allies and they still wouldn't get any closer to overtaking Google," said former president Bill Clinton.
"Look my friends, I know what it is like to get off course. I have been down and out. But I never had to run against Google and I hope I never have to," said McCain.
"I can no more repudiate Google than I can my own motherboard," Obama told reporters during a campaign stop.
Added John Edwards, the former senator and presidential candidate, "There is one search engine to lead me to my great haircut and it isn't Microsoft."
Philip Maddocks can be reachedpmaddock@cnc.com