With the flurry of news stories running rampant over the past 24-48 hours, poor Scarlett Yahoo must be exhausted. Who indeed to take to the cotillion? There's that awful Rhett MSN or that nice Ashley Wilkes Google.

Frankly, I'm reminded of the opening scene with Scarlett on the veranda cloying with prospective suitors and the saga is all a little exhausting. Makes me want for a nice Mint Julip and a nap until this whole silly thing blows over

Afterall, tomorrow is just another trading day.

But seriously, I have to wonder if there's not something bigger to this Yahoo/Google partnership thingy. Not because it makes any thing approaching sense. Not because Google seems better prepared to monetize Yahoo's own content/search property. Not even because I have a slight dark side that's easily titillated by the prospect of LOCKING the fox -- and I don't mean Rupert Murdoch -- into the henhouse.

No, what makes me think this is a foregone conclusion, a fait accompli with larger ramifications that even we can't understand is the unstated endorsement by no less than Eric Schmidt, Google CEO himself.

You do have to wonder, after all, what else a man who prefers Yahoo!Mail to his own Gmail might have a Yahoo! predilection for.

Yahoo!Mail. Preferred by Google CEO's everywhere!

Hmmmmm.....

Have a good one!

~The (SEP) Guy

About the Author: Tom Tsinas

I'm Vice President Business Development at Search Engine People. Prior to joining SEP, I spent 10 years with Canada's original search engine, the Yellow Pages Group. I worked in several key Departments including Marketing, Business Development, eProducts, Local and National Sales. My passion is my family. When not attending my Daughters soccer games, piano & dance lessons or school assembly, I'm focused on delivering strong result for our clients and researching and writing about local search, Yellow Pages, mobile marketing and social media.