Since Microsoft acquired online ad firm aQuantive for $6 billion, the likelihood of Steve Ballmer and company following that up with a Yahoo purchase became greater.

Last week, Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen told reporters that an AOL Yahoo merger was possible in 2007. Cohen said an AOL Yahoo merger was "one of the more logical combinations" to take on Google, cut costs, and combine audiences, and that Time Warner was open to it.

The opinion that Google can be taken on indirectly, by stealing its partner network sites that display AdSense, makes sense except for a couple of tiny issues.