What you can do: just say no

Higher costs to businesses are bad enough, but the fallout extends further. As MSN loses more and more market share, Microsoft becomes less and less attractive as an e-commerce platform. Similarly, its tools for both search and e-commerce become less useful as they become less popular.

Let me explain. There's a well-known principle of economics called the network effect. In essence, a network becomes more useful as it attracts more and more users. The most obvious example, of course, is the telephone network. It wasn't very useful when almost no one had a telephone. And the Internet wasn't too useful when there were hardly any Web sites.

The same is true of tools and platforms. The more widely they are used, the more useful they become. The reverse is true as well. And while the impact won't be as dramatic as the likely price hikes, the weakening of Microsoft's e-commerce infrastructure will further discourage competition and stifle innovation.

It may seem weird to follow Microsoft's lead on anything that has to do with monopoly and freedom of choice. But the Yahoo/Google deal stinks. It isn't in our interest, and we should let Congress know it.

(Disclosure: I own a small number of shares in Microsoft.)