Roundup: Will Msft-Yahoo hurt start-ups? Nah.

Here’s the latest (updated) action:

1. Hedge funds/News corp bid on Yahoo?
2. Microsoft to Yahoo: Respond in two days, or … ?
3. Flickr users say ‘hell no, we won’t go to Microsoft’
4. Will Msft-Yahoo hurt startups? Valley’s answer: Nah!
5. Live streaming of SF Customer Service summit
Facebook is helping application developers find sponsors
6. Third undersea Internet cable cut in the Middle East
7. Google co-founder Sergey Brin is an iPhone fanboy

Yahoo getting more interest — Yahoo may get bids from others, including hedge funds, and possibly from News Corp., though some people (see Mathew Ingram ) suggest Microsoft will still win because they’re willing to pay more of a premium.

Microsoft to Yahoo: Respond in two days, or else — Details here.

Flickr users say ‘hell no, we won’t go to Microsoft‘ — Details here.

Will Msft-Yahoo hurt startups by removing a large company (Yahoo) that has been a good acquirer in the past? — Folks we chatted with yesterday said no. A Microsoft-Yahoo behemoth would be even slower, as it tries to digest everything (corporate inertia grows the larger your company is), which means start-ups will lead innovation even more, creating new markets and thus having more opportunities for success. That’s the view of Mohr Davidow’s Bryan Stolle, for example, who said he’s seen that happen in software, where Oracle, in particular has seen less internal innovation: “It’s easy to start up things inside a big company, when that additional mouth at table isn’t that big. The more it starts to fight for resources, the antibodies in the company get in its way….it gets harder and harder to innovate.” Kevin Efrusy, of Accel Parters, agrees: “Consolidation always creates opportunities,” he says, saying that’s why open source start-ups have been doing so well: “Incumbents have basically vacated the space.” Some tell us there will be a more balanced bidding capability between Msft-Yahoo and Google. In certain areas such as mobile, it could actually accelerate the market. For example, Yahoo was very advanced in mobile content but had no core platform technology, while Msft had the opposite — Windows Mobile, but limited content/services, etc. So this could match up quite interestingly versus Google’s blend of Android plus Google’s services. Accel Capital’s Richard Wong, who has focused on mobile, say he’s hopeful this will be case. (Update: The NYT’s John Markoff has a far more eloquent piece saying pretty much the same thing as we say here. However, the NYT runs another story, taking the opposite view, saying Msft-Yahoo could be “bad for minnows,” though the analysis is made somewhat murky by looking more at the recession than Msft-Yahoo.)

Live streaming of “Customer Service is the New Marketing Summit” — There’s a handful of tickets left for the Monday event (we’re a sponsor, see our coverage). It’s being live-streamed here.
Facebook is helping application developers find sponsors — Details here

Third undersea Internet cable cut in the Middle East — No one knows why, but its hit the region hard.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin is an iPhone fanboy — But he uses Google Maps on it.