Microsoft Rumors Falling Like Leaves

Two notes before we start: First, your editor is on deadline for a magazine story, so today's RCPU will be shorter (and possibly even sweeter) than usual. Second, we promised you last week that we'd hear this week from a small business-intelligence vendor trying to survive in the shark tank of BI acquisitions by larger companies. We will bring you that vendor's story -- but not this week after all, as today's newsletter will be the last one until after Thanksgiving.

Oh, and Happy Thanks...giving...from R...C...P...U (and Les Nessman)!

It's fall in New England -- autumn, if you want to get poetic about it -- and a late run of warm weather into October has stretched leaf-peeping (seriously, people call it that) season well into November. Even today -- the week of Thanksgiving here in the U.S., fairly late for this sort of thing -- there are trees festooned with blazing yellow and fiery orange leaves. Soon, they'll darken, tumble and cover the ground, and the trees will be bare stick figures until spring comes again.

We see this same cycle of life (and death) with the endless Microsoft-is-going-to-buy-Yahoo rumor. Last we remember, it came up back in the late spring, budding again from a winter of slumber. Now, in the fall, it has burst into spectacular color, thanks to a blog post from former Wall Street type Henry Blodget.

Magnificent! Just look how bright it is! Of course, as many other commentators have already noted (here's one), the rumor is likely to be bunk again -- meaning it'll soon meet the same fate as a leaf that turns brown and tumbles to the ground. So, admire it while you can. We could be in for a long winter ahead.

Posted by Lee Pender on November 20, 2007 at 11:54 AM