How can this be? A Google-DoubleClick conglomerate scares the pants off me, even makes me cry “monopoly,” while a proposed Microsoft-Yahoo marriage doesn’t.Five years ago, such a reaction would have been naïve, counterintuitive, even preposterous. Microsoft was reveling in its role as the evil empire and Yahoo was, well, “Yahoo!” — the mighty pioneer of Internet search. Ah, how time and competition have re-shuffled the deck.Certainly Microsoft plus Yahoo would create a force to be reckoned with. But, even so, they’d still be just a big fish in an enormous pond — with plenty of other big, toothy fish fighting it out for control of the intercontinental swimming hole. Google-DoubleClick, on the other hand, creates a behemoth of a different sort: one that could threaten our privacy and give the combined company uncomfortable visibility into the inner workings, financial models, and business practices of its many partners (who are also competitors for ad dollars). I won’t rehash my earlier argument. I’ll simply note that despite the advice from one commenter that I take a “chill pill,” I remain worried about the deal. In the U.S., at least, I don’t see Microsoft-Yahoo as anticompetitive. It’s certainly strategic, though. At a recent conference entitled The New Software Industry: Forces at Play, Business in Motion, a panel of venture capitalists was critiquing Yahoo. One of them, I believe it was Bill Burnham from Inductive Capital (pardon me if I’ve misattributed; my notes are unclear on the speaker) noted that “Yahoo is an entertainment company. It’s run by LA types, and they’re doing a good job of it. But they’re not a disruptive force in the software business like, say, Google.”Exactly right. Despite having solid technology, Yahoo has really shifted to becoming a media company. Microsoft, which is very much a technology company, supplies the tech piece that Yahoo covets. Yahoo, on the other hand, adds media-biz know-how, Silicon Valley influence, and a bit of glitz to the mix. It makes sense for both parties, without severely limiting choice for U.S. consumers. True, the big get bigger, and possibly better. Yet vast size alone doesn’t constitute a monopoly. If old media — as in some of the flagging (but still potent) newspaper chains — were to team up with MS-Yahoo to offer exclusive content on a mega MS-Yahoo portal, that might create some difficulties for U.S. regulators. That scenario is not part of this deal, however.Now, a colleague of mine, a fellow with deep Australian roots, sees it differently. According to him, this partnership could create a virtual media monopoly. In Australia, Microsoft has a joint venture with Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd, operator of Channel 9, Australia’s biggest TV station, while Yahoo7 — another joint venture, between Yahoo and the Seven Network — is the clear No. 2. In the case of a merger, users’ freedom of choice could take a severe beating. So perhaps the real controversies will arise overseas. The upshot: If this deal happens, don’t expect the DoJ to stop it. But outside the U.S., all bets are off. Technology Industry