Here are some extracts from the Yahoo company-wide memo about the Microsoft deal, and what Jerry Yang really means. Great stuff.

One of the most frequent and most difficult questions I get asked by customers, journalists and people that I meet day-to-day is, "What are you doing about Google?"

So it's always great to see how Steve Ballmer deals with the same question. This first quote is in response to Google's announcement of its Android phone platform;

"So we have great momentum, we've brought our Windows Mobile 6 software to market, we're driving forward on our future releases and we'll have to see what Google does," said Ballmer. "Right now they have a press release..."

Even better is this brilliant clip from an interview by John Battelle. Absolutely classic.

(via John Battelle's Searchblog)

I haven't written about work-related stuff here yet, but last week I was lucky enough to attend !magine 07, Microsoft's European advertising summit where 600 or so advertisers came along to hear from top Microsoft execs and other movers and shakers from the online advertising world. Microsoft laid out their vision in the space whilst a great line-up of external speakers looked at case studies and best practice creativity.

Highlight for me was the presentation by AKQA founder Ajaz Ahmed. Not surprisingly, given that it had shifted £85m in it's first day and this was a Microsoft event, Ajaz used the launch of Halo 3 as his case study.   

Online gaming usually leaves me a little bit cold, but you can't fail to be impressed by the terrific trailer Ajaz's company have created. Visit their web site click on Halo 3/Believe, enter your age, hit autoplay and sit back and see why this was the most successful launch in entertainment history.