Microsoft sweetens the Pot
According to sources close to the deal, Microsoft will be offering Yahoo engineers free copies of Visual Studio and Windows Vista as part of a “generous retention package” they will be offering after an acquisition.
This is in addition to the already promised $25 Zune Marketplace card. With a deal like this on tap Yahoo engineers must be praying the acquisition comes soon–without advanced tools like Visual Studio it is unlikely Yahoo will ever be able to compete on their own.