UPDATE (7/29): Microsoft & Yahoo! deal went through - http://bit.ly/YDU5n.

As reported by 247wallst.com, sources for investment house ThinkEquity consider a Microsoft deal with Yahoo! to be "imminent". Other sources beyond ThinkEquity speculate this deal to be worth $3 billion upfront to Yahoo!.

A Microsoft purchase of Yahoo! search and Yahoo! search advertising would provide the new Bing.com with an incredible boost in search market share. comScore reported Google's US June search share at 65%, Yahoo! at 19.5%, and Microsoft at 8.4%. So a Microsoft purchase of Yahoo would effectively give Bing.com just under 30% of the US search market. Is that enough to shore up Bing.com as true competition to Google?

A Bing powered Yahoo! search will boost Microsoft's current holdings of US search marketing share. But will it provide sustainable competition for Google? The beauty behind the "BIG 3" in search is having options. Granted, Google is the 800 pound gorilla, but don't we all skip to Yahoo and Bing.com from time to time? Healthy competition fosters growth and improvement. Maybe this will breathe some life into the start up search engines out there.

For the sake of search, I hope Microsoft is able to maintain its newly acquired position as THE major competitor to Google. Otherwise Google may dip into Yahoo!’s previously owned market share and separate itself even further from competition.

Our latest project launch is a redesign of the Evansville Chapter 13 Trustee's website, www.evvchap13.com. The client was looking for a solution that would afford them the ability to easily manage their website's content.

For the site owner: NPS implemented a lightweight Content Management System (CMS) that provided the ability to update content areas of the website. NPS also integrated features of the Google API to provide a clean interface for the client to maintain their website resources including a Calendar, Maps, and PowerPoint Presentations. NPS is providing website hosting services to www.evvchap13.com.

For the viewers: NPS created a clean, straightforward website design and layout. Images and code are optimized for page download speed. Printing the website’s content from within a web browser is effortless thanks to the embedded stylesheet.