via a browser. The combination of Microsoft's existing Office customer base and Yahoo's online customer base would have provided a much better rival to Google Docs, especially when it comes to attracting business customers who are more likely to actually pay for a reliable, supported service. Not everything would have gone well for Yahoo projects, though. The same scrutiny that Yahoo properties are undergoing now, under the Bartz administration, would have begun months earlier and likely with less sympathetic eyes. With new bean counters in charge, Yahoo sites that didn't pass muster would have been axed with less hesitation. Merging in an ugly economy And that cold calculation likely would have gotten colder because of the economy. By the time the acquisition closed, signs of the economic troubles would be apparent. Microsoft shareholders, seeing their stake diluted and their cash reserves depleted by the acquisition, could have become a significant issue. Microsoft's flexibility to acquire other companies, lavishly fund research with cash, or pursue other big-picture changes would have been significantly decreased. Yahoo's deteriorating ad revenue would have become apparent, likely spawning a collection of Monday morning quarterbacks. After all, a better time for companies to consolidate is by snapping up weaker companies more vulnerable to economic swings. Microsoft wouldn't have been buying Yahoo at its peak, but the accountants in Redmond likely would be worrying about goodwill impairment charges. Yahoo employees, spooked by the bad economy and Google's continued dominance despite it, might have been happy about having a