Well there’s nothing to lose
And there’s nothing to prove
I’ll be dancing with myself
~Billy Idol, Dancing with Myself.

Microsoft is 30-something and that’s an elder statesman in personal computing terms, and maybe it’s feeling a bit old. The desktop is so yesterday. The future is on the web, so like many folks in their 30s Microsoft went looking for a partner, a company that could fill in the missing pieces of a successful, but increasingly dull corporate life.

Microsoft took a look around and Yahoo! looked kind of cute and surely it would find a company like Microsoft to be a highly attractive suitor. Microsoft, after all is rich and distinguished with a big bank account and a huge market share. What’s not to like? But Yahoo! proved difficult. Sure, it took a few phone calls and flirted a bit, but Yahoo! was never really interested in Microsoft (or so it seems) and Microsoft could only take so much rejection.

Finally, Microsoft had enough. As Rafat Ali reports on PaidContent.org, Bill Gates is saying it’s time for the two companies to pursue separate paths. If there were an E Entertainment channel for technology (how about the T Technology channel), they would be putting this front and center of the evening gossip news. Forget Brittany’s latest hijinx, Bill Gates reports
”the company put a lot of effort into those talks and has decided the two companies should pursue independent paths.” Wow. So you’re saying it’s time to start seeing other people. Dude, you didn’t even get a first date.

Poor pitiful Microsoft, all that cash and no place to go. It’s hard to be an aging software giant into today’s cut-throat dating market. Supposedly, after the Yahoo! heartbreak, Microsoft put in a call to Facebook to see if it wanted to meet for coffee, but Facebook isn’t interested, at least for now.

Reports indicate that the Yahoo!’s parents (read shareholders) may call the company to task for failing to take Microsoft’s attempts more seriously, but Yahoo! simply can’t be bought (yet). But you know how flaky these kids can be and who knows? Next week at this time Yahoo! and Microsoft could be seen on a beach in Bimini all kissy-kissy. Stranger things have happened, but for now Bill Gates is dancing with himself.