News and Analysis

Yahoo Continues To Commit Suicie

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Apparently they’re laying off a research team that others want to snatch up.

Now I could go on a usual rant, but let me just note the takeaways here:

  • Don’t send a resume to Yahoo, it’s clear they’re not a good choice.
  • If Yahoo keeps shedding/loosing people it may make employment slightly harder as people snatch up their talent.
  • This tells me they’re giving up on innovation for now – paired with their lawsuit it makes me honestly suspicious they’re looking at some kind of litigation/licensing model.
  • When Yahoo finally implodes one way or another, watch for the reaction.

– Steven Savage

ISP’s playing Content Cops for the RIAA?

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Apparently some are, starting July 1st.

I’ve gotten intermittent stories on this, from panic to “meh,” and I haven’t formed an opinion yet.  The RIAA is prone to grandiose announcements anyway so I’m not sure what’s up – and I’m in Silicon Valley, so I’d expect to hear a LOT more.  Though we do have a tendency to kind of brush off the RIAA around here.

Any input is needed – this could be big . . . or not.

– Steven Savage

More Cuts At AOL

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You can get the skinny here.  It’s 100 employees being laid off.

What’s most interesting are the cuts to super-popular AIM, which an insider says is basically support staff.  Surely that will be fixed, but my guess is AOL sees AIM as a cash cow and doesn’t plan to do anything new with it.

A good deal of AOL’s activities seems to be seeking to maximize the numbers in profit, so I don’t see any actual plan so much as calculations.  Not sure where this is going to end up.

TAKEAWAYS:

  • AOL is probably going to go for some radical rebranding soon.  OK further radical rebranding – they really aren’t “anything.”
  • AIM will probably survive, but it’ll be just a service that doesn’t really grow.
  • I wouldn’t send a resume to AOL.
  • Bonnie and I?  WAY wrong on AOL in the past.  Just apologizing.

– Steven Savage