Even though Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) had a not-so-hot latest quarter, the company still would like to partner with Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) for something. Although Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer no longer wants to acquire Yahoo!'s entire business, you can bet something is brewing between the two companies almost 18 months after a fierce and unsuccessful effort on Microsoft's part to acquire Yahoo!

What would Microsoft want? After all, it has just launched its Bing search (er, decision) engine to great fanfare a few months ago. Bing's market share grew admirable after its release, so would Microsoft want any part of Yahoo!'s search business? Hard to say.

Here we go again. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) may need to look at combining their companies and search efforts over a year from when a combined "Microhoo" was first put on the table. Current Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz tossed the latest gold coin into the fountain by saying this week that "boatloads of money" would be the only possible way Yahoo! would look at teaming up with Microsoft would happen.

Bartz danced around the issue and minced words a bit by answering that "You know, if there's boatloads of money and there's the right technology and there's the right information we'd have, sure. But you know, there's two parties in all of this and the other party needs to have a boatload of money, and ... the right technology and give us the right data, and so forth. So it's that simple."

As if the getting-older-by-the-minute Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) didn't need another mark against it, the internet pioneer and stubborn company recently provided information on the costs it incurred in fending off a successful Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) bid this summer. The final tab: $36 million.

Much of this tab was with advisory and law firms that helped the company deal with Microsoft along with a proxy battle by Carl Icahn that was settled just a few weeks ago with the installment of some Icahn puppets as board directors.

As a Yahoo! investor, are you pleased with the way Yahoo! has defended itself? Would the company be better suited for long-term success as a Microsoft division, or going at it alone as it has been?

How about the company taking $36 million from its cash pile to pay for all those consultants and attorneys? Was all the effort and expense in the best interest of the Yahoo! shareholder? Oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens doesn't think so -- but what about you?

Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) sure does seem to have a big head on its shoulders these days. After Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) stated its intention to by Yahoo! almost a month ago, the shots started flying. At first, Yahoo! seemed to be considering the bid. Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) started crying foul, claiming that this combination would limit internet innovation.

Yahoo! then rebuffed the offer from Microsoft, stating that the $44 billion offer was too low. For a company that's ran a decent business in the last few years -- but has been sideswiped by Google in every possible way -- what did Yahoo! expect? A $75 billion buyout package? Rumor has it that current CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang loathed the idea of being part of Microsoft. Personal distaste, though, should never get in the way of what's best for Yahoo!'s shareholders, right?

Yahoo! has looked a some partnerships in February that would keep it from Microsoft's clutches, but is now stating that the software maker's attempt to buy it is distracting its own workforce. Bull. Yahoo!'s workforce apparently is already highly distracted if it can't seem to find a business model that would sustain innovation and profitable growth. Yahoo! says the bid is making it harder to hire and retain "key employees and hire new talent."

Are you serious, Yahoo!? The company may be thinking too highly of itself, and if so, it needs to put its ego on the shelf and find a way to partner with somebody -- anybody -- to help it compete against Google. There is no way it can do this itself, as it's been shown for years now. Until then, distractions from the Microsoft bid are the order of the day. Get used to it, Yahoo! -- and don't give a lame excuse of "distracting the company" while it happens. Shareholders know better.

We know that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) exec David Drummond has said that he's not fond of the proposed acquisition of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) by software giant Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). Drummond indicated that he believes Microsoft could influence the internet too much like it has done in the PC market. What about other Google execs -- what do they think?

Google co-founder Sergey Brin took a potshot last week (although indirectly) by saying "The Internet has evolved from open standards, having a diversity of companies. And when you start to have companies that control the operating system, control the browsers, they really tie up the top Web sites, and can be used to manipulate stuff in various ways. I think that's unnerving." There you have it, Microsoft. You may soon be unnerving the world's largest search company.

This really is not a new argument, but it's typical of Google, which tends to believe in openness for all Internet users instead of locked-down and proprietary solutions controlled by select companies. Although Microsoft has lost court battles claiming it used illegal, monopolistic tactics to build its company in many ways, nothing of the sort has tarnished Google's doors yet. It simply built the best solution possible, and what do you know -- customers flocked to it. It'll be that position that Google takes as it continues planting the seeds of doubt and discontent as the Micro-Hoo situation continues to evolve.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) co-founders Jerry Yang, also the company's chief executive, and David Filo, the less visible of the two, should take Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) $44.6 billion offer before the world's largest software company realizes how much it is overpaying for the company.

Better yet, Yang and Filo should "reject" Microsoft's initial offer because -- at least according to CNBC -- Microsoft may be willing to up its bid. That seems to be the market's expectation given that shares of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo haven't hit the $31 offer level.

The Yahoo twosome need to get while the getting is good. As The Wall Street Journal notes, "If the deal goes through as presently constituted, Mr. Filo's stake would be worth more than $2.4 billion - not counting his options and other shares..Mr. Yang's stake would be worth more than $1.64 billion - again, not counting options and so forth."

During the height of the Internet bubble, both were worth more than $6 billion, the paper said.

The forays of Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN into original content already spooks content companies, so I bet if the deal through it will lead to a rash of mergers between old and new media companies. A combined company would likely do more original fare to attract advertisers and users.

This raises the question of whether Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) will start developing its own content given the likely merger and its recent disappointing results. Thoughts?