When I first saw the reports that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) was looking into the possibility of a non-acquisition deal with Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), my reaction was "What a rip-off!"

What's currently being discussed would seem to give Microsoft access to the parts of Yahoo that it wants without having to acquire the company. If Yahoo goes through with this, the company would seem to have no bargaining chip left to push for a higher price from Microsoft. As the crude saying goes, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free.

A source close to Carl Icahn reportedly says that he sees it much the same way. Reuters quotes the source: "Microsoft is trying to get the milk without buying the cow, and if you look at Icahn's history, he has never been used that way. He does not want to see Yahoo pushed into some joint venture with Microsoft and is not going to be used to push Yahoo into it."

If Yahoo thinks some sort of joint venture will appease Icahn, it's got another think coming. But then again, Icahn is famously unpredictable. As Steve Miller wrote about him "In face-to-face meetings he gave everyone whiplash. One moment he'd bellow, 'That's the stupidest goddamn thing I ever heard heard,' and the next he'd put his arm around you."

The Yahoo/Microsoft battle was interesting. The addition of Carl Icahn to the chamber pot could make it classic.