• CNet News.com, Thursday, August 7, 2008 3:15 PM

While most of the media frenzy surrounding Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Yahoo has died down, the deal still had the potential to change the entire search and online advertising landscape--and as such, there's still fodder for discourse. For example, search execs at yesterday's RBC Capital conference were vocal about wishing the deal had gone through, if only to be left with a real alternative to Google.

"We always have a need for multiple sources of quality traffic and we don't see that need going away as Google's share increases," Will Margiloff, CEO and founder of Innovation Interactive," during a panel discussion. "Complexity is good, consolidation is bad."

Others said that though there was a perception that Yahoo was down and out, the Web giant still drew in a massively monetizable audience that spent lots of time on its network.

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