Microsoft and Yahoo Merge, Search Engine Wars Begin

It was recently announced that Microsoft and Yahoo! have finally merged to take on goliath Google in the online search and advertising arena.  And so begins the age of the search engine wars.  The Jedi team of Luke Yahoo! Skywalker, Han Microsoft Solo and Princess Leia Bing Organa  are now battling the dominance of the imperial  Darth Google Vader.  Once the dust has settled on the battlefield, it will be interesting to see how this conflict will affect the current shares held by each of the respective search engines involved and the future of search engine optimization strategies.  May the force be with them.