Soft District

Still looking for a free Visual Studio? Yeah, right, I am also looking for a free Porsche Carrera GT, but couldn't find any, so far, and if I ever find one, probably the police will also find me, probably before I fully enjoyed one of the cars of my dreams. Anyway, back to software, now - what would you say about a free Visual Studio that doesn't come from Microsoft? Well, read on to find out more!

First of all, let's see what Microsoft has to say about Visual Studio in a few words, just "for the record," shall we? "The Microsoft Visual Studio development system is a suite of development tools designed to aid software developers—whether they are novices or seasoned professionals—face complex challenges and create innovative solutions. Visual Studio's role is to improve the process of development and make the work of achieving breakthroughs easier and more satisfying."

OK, so we know all that mumbo-jumbo, but what about a free Visual Studio, like in "freedom?" I know it may sound like a dream, but some people are trying to make this dream come true, shaped as a open-source tool, all being started by two new members of the Eclipse Foundation.

The idea is simple - Sonatype is planning to offer a Java environment to fight Visual Studio, expected to drop by in mid-September. This company has been founded by the same team that built the Apache Maven Java build and release framework and repository, and they are going to lead the m2eclipse project, an Eclipse plug-in combining Maven and Eclipse.

According to Jason van Zyl, CTO and co-founder of Sonatype and developer of Maven, "Maven combined with the Eclipse IDE is, we think, a solution that is starting to approach the usability of Visual Studio." Unfortunately, there's a pretty long road from "thinking" and "turning a dream into reality" but, as ambitious as it seems to be the entire roadmap of the Eclipse Foundation, we may have the free Visual Studio closer than we think, although its developer and basics are completely different from Microsoft's product...

Some people shape the world through hard work and creativity, while others do it by force and forcing others into submission. I don't know exactly who is Carl Icahn, if you ask me details about his past, but I know one thing for certain: after following closely the Yahoo-Microsoft match, and seeing his intervention taking place, every time I talk about something he has done, I have "its" in my mind, instead of "his," and I don't think I have to explain too much - after all, that's what a corporate raider is - a predator, a human that's less of a human, and more of a machine without soul, but let's not make this personal. After all, today he just addressed his "fellow Yahoo! shareholders" a message showing real concern about the company's fate, as we're going to see right away...

Although the open letter to the Yahoo! Shareholders is available on Carl Icahn's blog, and you can easily view it by using the link in the previous paragraph, I want to help you spare some of your precious time, so I'll quote the most interesting(or simply outrageous, for some) parts. Here we go...

"Dear Fellow Yahoo! Shareholders:

Over the years I have attempted to make changes at many companies but I have yet to see a company distort, omit and twist events and facts in the manner that Yahoo! has done in their press release issued Saturday night, July 12th," started Carl Icahn his open letter. Oh, well, as if Yahoo is the big bad wolf here, and Mr. Icahn, the poor little girl...

Now, here's the interesting part. It may be a bit long, but it's worth your time, believe me!

"During the last week, Goldman Sachs called me a number of times asking me to relate to them any transaction that Microsoft might be interested in transacting with Yahoo! I discussed with them the possibility of doing a “Search only” deal wherein Microsoft would purchase “Search” from Yahoo! and pay Yahoo! for any searches that would originate from a Yahoo! content page. Yahoo! felt that a deal of this nature would be very interesting, but only if Microsoft would guarantee the revenue that Yahoo! now received. This would obviously be a great deal for Yahoo! because Yahoo! would, for five years, receive a minimum of the $2.3 billion they are currently receiving as long as they continued to supply the page views and affiliate traffic they now had. Heretofore, Microsoft had been unwilling to even come close to making this guarantee. However, after I negotiated with Steve Ballmer for the better part of a week, he agreed to the guarantee. He also agreed to commit $7.7 billion dollars to the transaction (consisting of a $1 billion payment for “Search”, a $2.8 billion loan and a $3.9 billion tender offer to Yahoo! shareholders). Under the transaction, Yahoo! shareholders would receive $16.25 per share in distributions (consisting of cash and securities) and be left with a content company which would have a minimum guarantee of $2.3 billion per year of “Search” revenue from Microsoft and cost saving synergies from exiting the “Search” business that
Yahoo! has publicly stated would be $750 million per year (excluding the benefits from reduction of stock compensation and other non-cash items). However, Microsoft believes the synergies from Yahoo! exiting “Search” would be far superior and that Yahoo!’s 2009 GAAP operating income would exceed $2 billion. Microsoft would be making a substantial equity investment in the remaining company at a valuation of $19.50 per share. Furthermore, Yahoo! would be spared the great expense of maintaining “Search” as well as having to spend billions in developing new technology to compete with Google and Microsoft - which it is highly doubtful they would be able to do successfully. Additionally, Yahoo! would be able to avoid the great risk of seeing “Search” continue to lose market share and eventually melt away."

So, Carl Icahn is saving Yahoo? Come on! Who said Yahoo needs to be saved, and how is it possible to say such things like Yahoo Search "melting away??!" I wonder, and I have no answer to that yet, but I think the game is getting uglier with each day.

As a Yahoo user, I still think they have much to offer, and I don't think they'll ever "melt away," but I would really like to hear the opinion of some small Yahoo shareholder, so if you're one of them, please drop your comment below. What do you think? Would you like to see this company becoming a puppet in Icahn's and Ballmer's hands?

When I found out that Carl Icahn gets involved in the Yahoo-Microsoft battle, I got scared a little. Considering his past similar interventions in various companies, seeing Yang pushed aside and Yahoo offered on a plate to Microsoft started to look like a possible scenario. Now, I finally got my piece of mind back. It's funny to notice that some of the important announcements in the Yahoo-Microsoft match were announced during weekends, so let's see what did they do this Saturday...

For now, everything looks good to me - Yahoo announced they rejected the offer to sell the search business to Microsoft, and leave the remaining part of the company at Carl Icahn's disposal. In a statement, the search giant said the joint proposal from Microsoft and Icahn received on Friday was a quick "take it or leave it" one, being given less than 24 hours to accept. Even more, the two sharks made it clear they were unwilling to negotiate the fundamental terms, including the immediate replacement of Yahoo's board.

Yahoo's Chairman, Roy Bostock, said "This odd and opportunistic alliance of Microsoft and Carl Icahn has anything but the interests of Yahoo's stockholders in mind," and I fully agree with that one. Continuing to state the obvious, he added "Clearly, Microsoft, having failed to advance in search, is aligning with the short-term objectives of Mr. Icahn to coerce Yahoo into selling its core strategic search assets on terms that are highly advantageous to Microsoft, but disadvantageous to Yahoo stockholders."

I am not a Yahoo shareholder, so I can't say anything from that point of view but, as a Yahoo user, I only wish to see them continue along the current path and, if needed, go together with any other company they wish, apart from Microsoft and AOL, and I guess you can figure out why, in both cases!