Strange Bedfellows?

UNIVERSAL REMOTE

Item:

Microsoft and Yahoo made it official on Wednesday. The two companies announced a 10-year pact where Microsoft will power Yahoo search. Yahoo also becomes the sales force for Microsoft’s premium properties.

The companies said the search deal will accelerate innovation and bring more value to advertisers and Web users. Yahoo and Microsoft also get to focus on their core strengths. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz says there will be “boatloads of value for our users and industry.” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the Yahoo deal gives Bing the scale to compete.

Having used My Yahoo! as my start page for years, I'll be curious to see how this shakes out. At the very least, I'm hoping that Bing doesn't intrude on searches. I've seen it and am not real happy with its interface.