There is an article in the Seattle Times this morning discussing the ongoing regulatory fight over the Yahoo-Google deal, a fight which the reporter points out would probably never have happened without some outside instigation, since the arrangement is merely as business deal rather than a corporate merger. The suspected instigator, of course, is Microsoft, a company well-versed by hard experience with the necessity of managing its profile in Washington (DC... the "other Washington" as we like to call it out here in Seattle) and lining the right pockets to ensure legislators or regulators don't stand overmuch in its way in the corridors of power.

The implication in the article is that older, wiser Microsoft is schooling Google in the pickup basketball game sense of the phrase, using their experience and wiles to run circles around the naive and arrogant younger company. But I can't help but wonder if in the process Google is also getting schooled in the classroom sense of the phrase, getting a cheap education in the ways of Washington, with little at stake and a masterful teacher handing out the lessons. I don't think that the Yahoo deal is terribly important to Google... it always seemed to me as if it were a somewhat panicky response to Microsoft's crude buy-out overtures designed to keep Yahoo out of Redmond's clutches. But it wasn't as panicky as all that; the scenario that I envisioned Microsoft seeking was one where Google attempted to purchase Yahoo outright. By merely offering a partnership deal, Google avoided (or must have thought it would avoid) all the ensuing anti-trust oversight complications, while still bouying Yahoo and staving off a Microsoft deal. In any event, Microsoft's reaction (planned or not) was much the same as it might have been anyway: call foul and go looking for government help in hobbling Google.

The intriguing thing is that this seems to have worked, at least insofar as the Yahoo deal goes (the final outcome remains in question, but undoubtedly it's been a distraction and complication for Google). But because it wasn't a deal that Google ever needed, and because no merger was at stake, it may have had the unintended consequence of demonstrating Google's weakness in Washington to it in a relatively harmless way, as well as showing it exactly what it needs to do to shore up its stance there for the the next battle, which may prove to be far more important strategically than this one. Microsoft may ultimately regret having made such a stink over this issue if Google improves its game before the next one comes up.