Some Of Most Popular Computer Programming Languages

Here I List Some of Most Popular Computer Programming Languages around the Globe.

Complete list	Description	Why use it?
C# (C Sharp)	Concurrent to java, runs on .NET or compatible platforms (Portable NET, Mono).	Easier than C++. May share resources with other languages under a common runtime.
C	C offers great freedom, and lot of debugging challenge thanks to pointers and memory management.	Suffering slow programming to make fast programs. For system programming.
C++	C++ is C plus objects, an extended library, templates.	System programming as C but allow larger project, or applications.
D language	C++ like language, more dynamic. Compatible with C. D Language - Code	For teaching or scripting.
Pascal	Old language (1970), improved with objects, imposes a strictly structured programming.	Teaching, or client/server apps with Delphi and Kylix.
Basic Asp	This very old language (1964) was improved by Microsoft, with a complete programming environment. Other portages exist.	Standard language for scripting Microsoft's applications (Word etc...), and for dynamic web pages (Asp) on Windows servers.
PHP	Designed to be embedded inside HTML to build dynamic Web pages or update them from databases. PHP	Producing HTML pages from data. The version 5 targets Web services.
Java	Was designed to be portable and to replace C++.	Cross-platform applications (but slower than native ones). For web services programming .
JavaScript, ECMAScript	JavaScript has been invented to build dynamic client-side html pages, ECMAScript is the standardized version.	For interactivity in web pages. Used also by Xul to build graphical user interfaces.
Scriptol	A simple, object-oriented, universal language with an intuitive and powerful syntax. You can build executables, or embed code into html pages. XML may be used as data structure.	Easy and universal for scripting, prototyping, making binary applications, dynamic web pages and XML processing. For web services by using PHP 5 as back-end.
Python	A modern interpreted language with powerful built-in features and a unique indentation feature to shorten coding. The Jython version compiles in Java bytecode.	Programming at light speed. Powerful and easy to learn. Extending Zope for web services. Java scripting with Jython. Only for open source applications (not compiled).
Boo	This is a new version of Python with some new features. It runs on .Net and Mono and thus, no compatibility problem. Boo	Similar to Python.
ASP	Scripting language, server-side, for dynamic web pages by Microsoft, same syntax as Basic. ASP	Producing HTML pages from data, but under Windows servers only.
Assembler	This is near the machine language and the fastest. You should never use it, as older programmers did.	Making drivers or industrial processing.
Eiffel, Sather	Object-oriented, with "programming per contract" and other secure features. Sather is an open source implementation.	Programming secured applications. Used by hospitals.
Perl	A scripting interpreted language. Readabillity and ease of use are not the goal. Perl	Mainly used by networks administrators and for small CGI scripts.
Rebol	Interpreted language for network scripting. The language itself may be augmented. Rebol	Processing information on distributed computer systems, with small programs.
Ruby	Designed with simplicity in mind. It is interpreted, and has a proprietary but extensible library.	Writing scripts more easily. Using Ruby on rails. Only for open source applications (not compiled).
Tcl	A scripting language, easy to learn and available on any platform.	Scripting of portable programs with GUI, and web programming by CGI.
NetRexx	By IBM, has a simplified syntax.	Extends Java with scripts.
Lua	Add-on or standalone language with extensible semantic. Lua	Extending the C language.
Cobol	Business language still used on big computers. Cobol	Maintaining old programs on mainframes.
Fortran	One of the first languages, always used for mathematical tasks. Fortran	Has huge library for scientific calculations.
Lisp	Lisp is a very old language designed for artificial intelligence, processes lists only. Lisp	Artificial intelligence and scripting.
Scheme	Scheme is a modernized version of Lisp. Scheme	Artificial intelligence and scripting.
Prolog	For logic programming, based on Horn's clauses. Prolog	Heavy artificial intelligence processing.
Haskell	Functional programming. Slow and memory consuming. Haskell	To try programming in another way
SQL	Language of data management. MySQL	For databases queries.
Forth	Another oldy. Invented by an astronomer, is stack based Forth	For instrumental commands and legacy libraries re-using.
Smalltalk	One of the first object oriented language, programs can't run outside the IDE. Smalltalk	Absolutely object-oriented processing.
Modula, Oberon	Successors to Pascal. Oberon	For nostalgics of the Algol and Pascal time.
Caml, Ocalm	Functional languages, Ocalm is object-oriented. Caml	Used by universities. May help to build a compiler.
Scala	Procedural, functional and object-oriented programming language. Scala	Educational purpose.
XML	Not really a programming language, but may be used for similar tasks. XML	XML serves to describe precisely data and may include actions on data. XSL allows to transform documents.

Cheers,
Jenson

Some Video Websites on the Web

Here I List some of the video websites available on the Web.

A-
AOL Video - Watch music videos, news, movie trailers, and TV shows
All Player Stats - watch sports videos
Air Vids - Aviation Video Channel
All Things Science - Release your inner Einstein
AajKaTV - South Asian Video -
Activistvideo - The video for political activism
AtomFilms - Web Comedy Galore

B-
Blinkx - Over 7 million hours of video. Search it all
Brightcove - Find and watch the online video
Bebo - Social network with video focus
Babelgum - TV Expierence, Internet substance
Blog tv - Broadcast your own TV Show
Break - Free videos
Broadcaster.com - Viral video clips, live community
BooksVideos.tv - Watch the story behind the story
Bubble Comments - Share video comments with others
Blip TV - A great service for great shows
BlogCheese - The worlds easiest video blogging system
Bigthink - We are what you think
Bofunk - dishin the funk, without the junk
Bragster - Dare your friends and brag about it
Boatson.tv - Boat videos on Online.
BuzzHumor - Extreme funny shocking videos

C-
Clevver - Action & comedy movie trailers and music videos
CNN Video - Watch news and breaking news videos at CNN.com
Chip Blast - Search and navigate video across the web
Crackle- Watch, create, and share video (formerly Grouper)
Channel 101 - Video entertainment
Current - Your World. View
Constant Comedy - The next stage for entertainment
Coffee Shorts - Independent short films
College Click TV - Get to know your top college
Cast TV - One Stop Watching
Clipta - video search
Chicago3media.com - C3M covers everything from entertainment to pets to news

D-
Daily Motion - Share your videos
Dave.tv - Social broadcast network
Dabble - Search, collect, and organize your favorite web videos
DestinationGuide.tv - The place to share travel videos

E-
Eyespot - Free Video Mixing. Movie making for all of us
Earth Cam - Where the world watches the world
Everyzing - Audio and video search (formerly Podzinger)
eBaum's World - Funny videos
eKKo TV - Every voice has a face

F-
Flurl - Video and media search
Funny or Die -Funny videws featuring comedians, celebrities, and you.
Funny Junk - The name says it all
Flixwagon - Life is a Journey. Broadcast it Live
Fancast - What you can watch today
Feedky - Video videos through RSS
Fun Video Word - Funny Viral Videos
First on Mars - Watch TV free
Funtouristattractions.com - Fun tourist attractions videos

G-
Green.tv - Video channel for environmental films
Gawkk.com - Discover new videos with friends

H-
Heavy - Video community where you are the network
Helpful Video - Share your knowledge and skills
Hulu - Watch your favorite videos
History.com - The day history video & speeches

I-
ifilm - Upload and search for videos
Iblocks - Take your photos, videos & music and convert them into 3D videos
Ivnet.tv - Global broadband TV
Inewsit - Community powered news
Intoxicated Videos - Best drunk videos on the web

J-
Jumpcut - Upload, share, and search for video and media.
Joost - A new way of watching TV
Jistin.tv - Live video
Jump tv - Your true colors

K-
Kewego - Video search
knocka tv -"The People have Taken Over"
Kyte.tv - Watch, Produce, Mobile
Kazivu - Post videos, create and share customize channels

L-
Live Video - The world is watching
Link TV - Television without borders
Live Leak - Refefining the media
Le Gourmet TV - Dedicated to Gourmet Food and the like
Like Television - Only better
Loom TV - Watch what you want

M-
MSN Video - Watch and search for videos
Metacafe - Watch, upload, and search for videos
Nowthen - Keeps a diary of your images
Mega Video - I'm watchin' it
Motorsportmad.com - Every category of morotsport
Mogulus.com - Live broadcast
My Yoga Online - Video Yoga Classes
Mefeedia.com - Video search and discover
Muzu TV - Bands and fans Broadcast Music TV on the web
Molv - Live video from mobile phones to the web

N-
Nasa TV - Watch live from NASA
NY Times Video - Video on demand from the New York Times
New Baby - Where moms learn, share, and create video

O-
Onion News Network - 24-hour television news
Overlay.tv - Watch it, click it, get it

P-
Pure Video - Watch and search for videos
Pixsy.com - Search for photos and videos
Peekvid - Watch videos
Public.tv - Watch public sector, professional training, and business videos
Poker Listing TV - Poker videos in one place educational & fun at the same time -

Q-
Qik - Share live video from your mobile phone

R-
Revver - Create and share videos
Rocket boom - Daily internet culture
Recession TV - A site for the times

S-
Sportal - Watch and search for sports audio and video
Sumo.tv - Watch, upload, and search for UK videos
Sharkle - Watch, upload, and share your videos
Searchforvideo.com - Video search
Spike TV - Powered by ifilm
South Park Studios - All episodes from television series
Self Cast - Create your own free live broadcast
Snotr - The ultimate place for great videos

T-
Trooker - Find it, watch it, trook it
Trivop - Hotel videoguilde (one of the first)
Travelistic - Online travel videos from around the world
TV Land - Video clips of classic television and original series
TV Life - Watch Shows online free
Twango - Video sharing
TurnHereTravel.tv - A video for every destination
TuCristo.com - Dando Testimonio Vivo
Totlol - Video for kids
Truevo - Video Search
The Doctors Channel - Internet TV for Doctors
Trip Films - Travel inspired Videos

U-
Upstream.tv - Live, interactive broadcasting

V-
Voeh - Search, download and watch videos
Video Jug - Life explained. On Film. Upload/share your videos
Viral Videos - Watch the web's most shared viral videos
Video.ca - Canadian video sharing community
Vimeo - Watch, upload, and search for videos
Vidilife - Watch, upload, and search for videos
Video Egg - Video sharing
Video Bomb - Social bookmarking for video
Vmix.com - Video sharing and hosting community
Vsocial.com - Online video and social media tools
Video Clips Dump - Your daily entertainment
Video Surf - Video search engine (must register)
Video Bloom - Online video advertising and distribution solutions

W-
Weather.com - Blue box weather videos
Watchdoit.com - Watch and do it

X-

Y-
You Tube -Watch, upload, broadcast, and search for videos
Yahoo Video - Video search
Youare.tv - Independent films, shows, and videos
Youku.com - #1 video sharing site for China

Z-
Zoopy - Social media playground to share videos

If you Find any POPULAR video websites other than those mentioned you can report me through Comments section.

Cheers,

Jenson

Internet Timeline up to late 90's

This section is a summary of some of the material contained in Hobbes' Internet Timeline and also contains sources from Pros Online - Internet History, What is the Internet? and History of Internet and WWW : View from NetValley and other Resources. Consult these source for more detailed information.

1836

-- Telegraph. Cooke and Wheatstone patent it. Why is this relevant?

• Revolutionised human (tele)communications.
• Morse Code a series of dots and dashes used to communicate between humans. This is not a million miles away from how computers communicate via (binary 0/1) data today. Although it is much slower!!

1858-1866

-- Transatlantic cable. Allowed direct instantaneous communication across the atlantic. Why is this relevant?

• Today, cables connect all continents and are still a main hub of telecommunications.

1876

-- Telephone. Alexander Graham Bell Exhibits.

Why is this relevant?

• Telephones exchanges provide the backbone of Internet connections today.
• Modems provide Digital to Audio conversions to allow computers to connect over the telephone network.

1957

-- USSR launches Sputnik, first artificial earth satellite. Why is this relevant?

• The start of global telecommunications. Satellites play an important role in transmitting all sorts of data today.
• In response, US forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish US lead in science and technology applicable to the military.

1962 - 1968

-- Packet-switching (PS) networks developed Why is this relevant?

• As we will see later the Internet relies on packets to transfer data.
• The origin is military : for utmost security in transferring information of networks (no single outage point).
• Data is split into tiny packets that may take different routes to a destination.
• Hard to eavesdrop on messages.
• More than one route available -- if one route goes down another may be followed.
• Networks can withstand large scale destruction (Nuclear attack - This was the time of the Cold War).

1969

-- Birth of Internet

ARPANET commissioned by DoD for research into networking

Why is this relevant?

• First node at UCLA (Los Angeles) closely followed by nodes at Stanford Research Institute, UCSB (Santa Barbara) and U of Utah (4 Nodes).

1971

-- People communicate over a network
• 15 nodes (23 hosts) on ARPANET.
• E-mail invented -- a program to send messages across a distributed network. Why is this relevant?
  • E-mail is still the main way of inter-person communication on the Internet today.
  • We will study how to use and send E-mail shortly in this course.
  • You will make extensive use of E-mail for the rest of your life.

1972

-- Computers can connect more freely and easily

• First public demonstration of ARPANET between 40 machines.
• Internetworking Working Group (INWG) created to address need for establishing agreed upon protocols.

  Why is this relevant?

  • Telnet specification
  • Telnet is still a relevant means of inter-machine connection today.

1973

-- Global Networking becomes a reality

• First international connections to the ARPANET: University College of London (England) and Royal Radar Establishment (Norway)
• Ethernet outlined -- this how local networks are basically connected today.
• Internet ideas started.
• Gateway architecture sketched on back of envelope in hotel lobby in San Francisco. Gateways define how large networks (maybe of different architecture) can be connected together.
• File Transfer protocol specified -- how computers send and receive data.

1974

-- Packets become mode of transfer

• Transmission Control Program (TCP) specified. Packet network Intercommunication -- the basis of Internet Communication.
• Telenet, a commercial version of ARPANET, opened -- the first public packet data service.

1976

-- Networking comes to many

• Queen Elizabeth sends out an e-mail.
• UUCP (Unix-to-Unix CoPy) developed at AT&T Bell Labs and distributed with UNIX.

  Why is this relevant?

  • UNIX was and still is the main operating system used by universities and research establishments.
  • These machines could now ``talk'' over a network.
  • Networking exposed to many users worldwide.

1977

-- E-mail takes off, Internet becomes a reality

• Number of hosts breaks 100.
• THEORYNET provides electronic mail to over 100 researchers in computer science (using a locally developed E-mail system and TELENET for access to server).
• Mail specification
• First demonstration of ARPANET/Packet Radio Net/SATNET operation of Internet protocols over gateways.

1979

-- News Groups born

• Computer Science Department research computer network established in USA.
• USENET established using UUCP.

  Why is this relevant?

  • USENET still thrives today.
  • A collection of discussions groups, news groups.
  • 3 news groups established by the end of the year
  • Almost any topic now has a discussion group.

1979 (Cont)

• First MUD (Multiuser Dungeon) -- interactive multiuser sites. Interactive adventure games, board games, rich and detailed databases.
• ARPA establishes the Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB).
• Packet Radio Network (PRNET) experiment starts with ARPA funding. Most communications take place between mobile vans.

1981

-- Things start to come together

• BITNET, the "Because It's Time NETwork" Started as a cooperative network at the City University of New York, with the first connection to Yale
  • Provides electronic mail and listserv servers to distribute information, as well as file transfers
• CSNET (Computer Science NETwork) established to provide networking services (specially E-mail) to university scientists with no access to ARPANET. CSNET later becomes known as the Computer and Science Network.

1982

-- TCP/IP defines future communication

• DCA and ARPA establishes the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), as the protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, for ARPANET.

  Why is this relevant?

  • Leads to one of the first definitions of an internet as a connected set of networks, specifically those using TCP/IP, and Internet as connected TCP/IP internets.

1982 (Cont)

• EUnet (European UNIX Network) is created by EUUG to provide E-mail and USENET services. Original connections between the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and UK
• External Gateway Protocol specification -- EGP is used for gateways between (different architecture) networks.

1983

-- Internet gets bigger

• Name server developed.

  Why is this relevant?

  • Large number of nodes.
  • Hard to remember exact paths
  • Use meaningful names instead.

• Desktop workstations come into being.

  Why is this relevant?

  • Many with Berkeley UNIX which includes IP networking software.
  • Need switches from having a single, large time sharing computer connected to Internet per site, to connection of an entire local network.

1983 (Cont)

• Internet Activities Board (IAB) established, replacing ICCB
• Berkeley releases new version of UNIX 4.2BSD incorporating TCP/IP.
• EARN (European Academic and Research Network) established on similar lines to BITNET

1984

-- Growth of Internet Continues

• Number of hosts breaks 1,000.
• Domain Name Server (DNS) introduced.
  • instead of 123.456.789.10
  • it is easier to remember something like

    www.myuniversity.mydept.mynetwork.mycountry

    ( e.g. www.cs.cf.ac.uk).

• JANET (Joint Academic Network) established in the UK
• Moderated newsgroups introduced on USENET.

1986

-- Power of Internet Realised

• 5, 000 Hosts. 241 News groups.
• NSFNET created (backbone speed of 56 Kbps)
• NSF establishes 5 super-computing centers to provide high-computing power for all -- This allows an explosion of connections, especially from universities.
• Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) designed to enhance Usenet news performance over TCP/IP.

1987

-- Commercialisation of Internet Born

• Number of hosts 28,000.
• UUNET is founded with Usenix funds to provide commercial UUCP and Usenet access.

1988

• NSFNET backbone upgraded to T1 (1.544 Mbps)
• Internet Relay Chat (IRC) developed

1989

-- Large growth in Internet

• Number of hosts breaks 100,000
• First relays between a commercial electronic mail carrier and the Internet
• Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) comes into existence under the IAB

1990

-- Expansion of Internet continues

• 300,000 Hosts. 1,000 News groups
• ARPANET ceases to exist
• Archie released files can be searched and retrieved (FTP) by name.
• The World comes on-line (world.std.com), becoming the first commercial provider of Internet dial-up access.

1991

-- Modernisation Begins

• Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX) Association, Inc. formed after NSF lifts restrictions on the commercial use of the Net.
• Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS) Why is relevant?
  • Provides a mechanism for indexing and accessing information on the Internet.
  • Large bodies of knowledge available: E-mail messages, text, electronic books, Usenet articles, computer code, image, graphics, sound files, databases etc..
  • These form the basis of the index of information we see on WWW today.
  • Powerful search techniques implemented. Keyword search.

1991 (cont)

-- Friendly User Interface to WWW established

• Gopher released by Paul Lindner and Mark P. McCahill from the U of Minnesota. Why is relevant?
  • Text based, menu-driven interface to access internet resources.
  • No need to remember or even know complex computer command. User Friendly Interface (?).
  • Largely superseded by WWW, these days.

1991 (cont)

-- Most Important development to date

• World-Wide Web (WWW) released by CERN; Tim Berners-Lee developer. Why is relevant?
  • Originally developed to provide a distributed hypermedia system.
  • Easy access to any form of information anywhere in the world.
  • Initially non-graphic (this came later, MOSAIC, 1993).
  • Revolutionised modern communications and even our, way of life (?).
• NSFNET backbone upgraded to T3 (44.736 Mbps). NSFNET traffic passes 1 trillion bytes/month and 10 billion packets/month
• Start of JANET IP Service (JIPS) using TCP/IP within the UK academic network.

1992

-- Multimedia changes the face of the Internet

• Number of hosts breaks 1 Million. News groups 4,000
• Internet Society (ISOC) is chartered.
• First MBONE audio multicast (March) and video multicast (November).
• The term "Surfing the Internet" is coined by Jean Armour Polly.

1993

-- The WWW Revolution truly begins

• Number of Hosts 2 Million. 600 WWW sites.
• InterNIC created by NSF to provide specific Internet services
  • directory and database services
  • registration services
  • information services
• Business and Media really take notice of the Internet.
• US White House and United Nations (UN) comes on-line.
• Mosaic takes the Internet by storm. Why is this relevant?
  • User Friendly Graphical Front End to the World Wide Web.
  • Develops into Netscape -- most popular WWW browser to date.
  • WWW proliferates at a 341,634

1994

-- Commercialisation begins

• Number of Hosts 3 Million. 10,000 WWW sites. 10,000 News groups.
• ARPANET/Internet celebrates 25th anniversary
• Local communities begin to be wired up directly to the Internet (Lexington and Cambridge, Mass., USA)
• US Senate and House provide information servers
• Shopping malls, banks arrive on the Internet
  • A new way of life
  • You can now order pizza from the Hut online in the US.
  • First Virtual, the first cyberbank, open up for business
• NSFNET traffic passes 10 trillion bytes/month
• WWW edges out telnet to become 2nd most popular service on the Net (behind ftp-data) based on % of packets and bytes traffic distribution on NSFNET
• UK's HM Treasury on-line (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/)

1995

-- Commercialisation continues apace

• 6.5 Million Hosts, 100,000 WWW Sites.
• NSFNET reverts back to a research network. Main US backbone traffic now routed through interconnected network providers
• WWW surpasses ftp-data in March as the service with greatest traffic on NSFNet based on packet count, and in April based on byte count
• Traditional online dial-up systems (Compuserve, America Online, Prodigy) begin to provide Internet access
• A number of Net related companies go public, with Netscape leading the pack.
• Registration of domain names is no longer free.
• Technologies of the Year: WWW, Search engines (WAIS development).
• New WWW technologies Emerge Technologies
  • Mobile code (JAVA, JAVAscript, ActiveX),
  • Virtual environments (VRML),
  • Collaborative tools (CU-SeeMe)

1996

-- Microsoft enter

• 12.8 Million Hosts, 0.5 Million WWW Sites.
• Internet phones catch the attention of US telecommunication companies who ask the US Congress to ban the technology (which has been around for years)
• The WWW browser war begins , fought primarily between Netscape and Microsoft, has rushed in a new age in software development, whereby new releases are made quarterly with the help of Internet users eager to test upcoming (beta) versions.

1997

-- What Next?

• 19.5 Million Hosts, 1 Million WWW sites, 71,618 Newsgroups.

And the saga continues.....

Wave Is Coming!

Google Wave is a new communication service previewed today at Google I/O. "A wave is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more."

The service seems to combine Gmail and Google Docs into an interesting free-form workspace that could be used to write documents collaboratively, plan events, play games or discuss a recent news.


Google Wave has been designed by the founders of Where 2 Tech, a start-up acquired by Google to create a cutting-edge mapping service, which later became Google Maps.

Lars Rasmussen in Google Explains,

"Back in early 2004, Google took an interest in a tiny mapping startup called Where 2 Tech, founded by my brother Jens and me. We were excited to join Google and help create what would become Google Maps. But we also started thinking about what might come next for us after maps. As always, Jens came up with the answer: communication. He pointed out that two of the most spectacular successes in digital communication, email and instant messaging, were originally designed in the '60s to imitate analog formats — email mimicked snail mail, and IM mimicked phone calls. Since then, so many different forms of communication had been invented — blogs, wikis, collaborative documents, etc. — and computers and networks had dramatically improved. So Jens proposed a new communications model that presumed all these advances as a starting point; I was immediately sold,"

"In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It's concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content -- it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use "playback" to rewind the wave to see how it evolved."

You can see some screenshots of the service below and find some details about the API that could be used to extend the service and the Wave protocol that allows anyone to run a "wave" server. Google promises that Google Wave will be available later this year.

The Google Wave logo:

Screenshots:

A conversation in Wave:

Concurrent rich-text editing in Wave:

A sample Wave extension for event planning:

Event planning, with a map:

Another sample Wave extension, for games:

How you add someone to a Wave:

Contextual spell-checking in Wave:

Cheers,
Jenson

Microsoft, Yahoo in 10-year Web search partnership

Wed Jul 29, 6:02 pm ET

Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc have launched a 10-year Web search deal to challenge market leader Google but stopped short of combining other advertising businesses or suggesting any deeper ties.

The long-expected deal means Microsoft's new Bing search engine will be combined with Yahoo's experience attracting advertisers in the first serious threat to Google Inc -- if the companies get regulatory approval and can make the partnership work.

Yahoo shares fell 12 percent as some investors were disappointed by the limited scope of the deal, which did not include up-front payments for Yahoo. Some investors had expected up to $3 billion up-front, according to a Bernstein report.

"I would have preferred more money," said Ryan Jacob, chief investment officer of Jacob Asset Management, pointing to the lack of an upfront payment, as well as revenue-sharing and cost-savings terms that were not as high as he expected.

"There are risks on both sides. Big deals like this tend not to work out. It's a long-term deal that's going to take a long time to implement," said Jacob, whose $40 million fund holds some Yahoo shares. "It's better than no deal."

Microsoft shares closed up 1.4 percent, while Google shares fell 0.8 percent.

Yahoo estimated the deal would boost its annual operating income by about $500 million and yield capital expenditure savings of $200 million. Yahoo also expects the deal to boost annual operating cash flow by about $275 million.

ANTITRUST OBSTACLE

Under the deal announced on Wednesday, Microsoft's Bing search engine will power search queries on Yahoo's sites. Yahoo's sales force will be responsible for selling premium search ads to big buyers for both companies.

The partnership poses only a theoretical challenge to Google at present. It could take two-and-a-half years to get approval and be fully implemented, according to Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz, which would mean the partnership would not be fully effective until early 2012.

Microsoft and Yahoo still face antitrust and privacy issues. Google dropped a planned search partnership with Yahoo last year under pressure from the U.S. Justice Department.

But experts said the deal would likely get the go-ahead after examination by Obama administration antitrust officials since it would create a stronger rival to market leader Google.

Google said only that it was "interested" in the deal, while the chairman of the U.S. Senate antitrust panel said it warrants "careful scrutiny."

Microsoft and Yahoo expected the deal to be "closely reviewed" by regulators, but they were "hopeful" it could close in early 2010.

The deal concludes a lengthy, and at times contentious, dance between the two companies. They have been in on-again, off-again talks since Yahoo rebuffed Microsoft's $47.5 billion takeover bid last year.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer clashed last year with former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, who was strongly opposed to an all-out acquisition. Relations between the two companies improved under new Yahoo CEO Bartz, who took the reins in January and started to shake up Yahoo's management.

Ballmer and Bartz met "three or four times" over the past six months as they hammered out a deal, according to Ballmer.

HOW THE DEAL WORKS

While Bartz had previously said any deal would require a partner with "boatloads of money," she said on Wednesday the agreement provided "boatloads of value," adding the revenue- share agreement in the Microsoft deal was more valuable to Yahoo than a one-time payment.

"Having a big up-front cash payment doesn't really help us from an operating standpoint," Bartz said.

Microsoft's AdCenter technology will serve the standard sponsored links that appear alongside search results. Microsoft will pay Yahoo an initial rate of 88 percent of search revenue generated on Yahoo sites in the first five years.

That means Yahoo can concentrate on selling ads on its websites, while still generating revenue from search ads without the expense of maintaining its own search engine.

Bartz said the deal will result in "redundancies" in Yahoo's staff, although she declined to be specific. She stressed any changes would not occur until after full implementation of the partnership.

According to comScore, Google has a 65 percent share of the U.S. search market, compared with Yahoo's 19.6 percent and Microsoft's 8.4 percent.

"Microsoft will be able to report a greater share in terms of search ... And Yahoo doesn't have to spend any more money on search," said Barry Diller, CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp, which owns rival search engine Ask.com.

Cheers,
Jenson