The govt would tell Google to go fuck themselves. Only a fool should try to push the government around and if Google is going to be that fool; oh well. A good old fashioned government smackdown hasn't happened in a while anyway and I can't think of a better group of guys for it to happen to.

Heavily depends who pays the bills.

Maybe gov will come after 2 and say "sorry it took so long"? ;)

For reference look: OOXML and ISO...

Where headlines are calling for more "Government Oversight", this will probably be a big deal. HOWEVER, Google voluntarily paused the deal, so the government has no leg to stand on. It should be known that is the deal is found to be anticompetitive, all monies earned in the deal will need to be returned, and thats a horrible loss of time for any company to figure out.

I think we are finally getting to the point where corporations in the pockets of Washington legislators will cease to exist. For the simple fact that we have now seen what happens without oversight, and less oversight will not happen again for a very long time (until we forget again, like we did in the 70's, late 80's, etc.

In an ideal world, it wouldn't matter what the parties did - they should have the freedom to paint their entire building with a giant "US GOV SUXXORS" and still get the same result as if they co-operated. I'd also say in an ideal world the idea of a company that has >50% of a market gaining an additional massive share to take it up to nearly 80% of a market would be slapped down quickly without any need for overly protracted negotiations, but then IANAL.

Of course, in the real world, Google have just pissed of the DoJ. Have they pissed them off enough to counter Microsoft's massive pissed-off-the-DoJ score? We'll see when the verdict gets delivered!

Not because of Google's internet megalomania or because it will increase Google's hawkish Big Brother-ness, but because it will reduce choice for everyone and reduce competition in the marketplace. And I'm talking about the online advertising marketplace here. It is hard enough for minnow companies to get decent ad placements now without having to pay over the odds, so how much harder will it be after this unholy alliance.

Personally, I'd prefer to have seen MS take over Yahoo! as this would have ensured competition and provided alternatives for us all - and then we can choose which one(s) we want to use based on our needs, preferences and prejudices rather than being forced to eat Google Soup.

Solomon, haven't you heard of the "inherent democracy of the web" ?

http://www.google-watch.org/pagerank.html

What could possibly be more representative than the Hive Mind?

Good for google on giving the government a deadline.

Anything the public sector seems involved in takes forever.

Over here in the UK, we recently saw Sky tell ofcom that an 18 month investigation was too long so the plan being investigated was shelved.

The hutton report took a year or so, its all just too long in the commercial world.

It is nice for these civil servants to take their leisurely time over writing what amounts to an essay on this, with their half day fridays and whinging about everything. I remember having to do alot of writing for all my school obtained qualifications.

Its time we pushed the public sector to get more efficient as the private sector has had to, then they might not waste so many of our tax dollars/pounds.

Actually don't throw your generalisations around so swiftly. I'm on a government contract and I've been pushed easily as hard as when I was in the private sector, I also dont get a half day on Fridays.

Us minions have to work damned hard, but just as in any private sector area, the middle management get to sit around doing nothing and glibly make stupid, pointless comments on El Reg...so why am I posting in the afternoon..well I've just had the opportunity to take my lunchbreak, which I am only taking half of to keep the overlords happy.