Microsoft to reporters: Stop blathering about a webmail monopoly

A Microsoft-Yahoo merger would give Microsoft control of more than 90 percent of email and instant messaging traffic worldwide. But when a reporter from AdAge asked Microsoft VP Yusuf Mehdi about it, he shushed her. "The core of the combination is around search and advertising," Mehdi said, "The other allegations are not there and not the focus of what we should be talking about in this combination." We'll ignore that advice, but agree with the sentiment. Last we checked, email use was in decline relative to other forms of online communication, such as social network messaging. (Photo by richard winchell)