Yahoo might appear more laid back, but the two are culturally closer than one might expect. For instance, while Google Inc. foots the bill for employees’ meals, Microsoft and Yahoo both make their work forces pay in the cafeteria. And while some associate afternoon soccer and cricket matches with Yahoo’s startup ethic, Microsoft’s campus is dotted with playing fields.

Yeah, but I bet Microsoft’s cafeteria isn’t named URL’s. I also doubt Microsoft is footing the bill with free coffee and soft drinks in every building, as is the case with Yahoo. Simply comparing recreation facilities and the company cafeteria is not an accurate metric for determining how close the companies are. There is a lot more to it.

Though its Windows operating system is on more than 90 percent of the world’s computers, its perpetual lack of savvy online has also prompted it to experiment with Silicon Valley-style events, including inviting programmers to gather once a month in bean bag chairs to brainstorm and collaborate on cool Web projects.

Why not just snatch up all of the “cool” programmers working at Yahoo? I don’t see how that would work either, because it seems obvious that Microsoft is unlikely to maintain Yahoo’s existing Unix and PHP properties and is likely to migrate everyone over to Windows Live products in their place. I really hope that doesn’t happen, but with concerns over Microsoft’s intent to simply acquire Yahoo’s userbase, I am concerned.

The company’s internal reaction with John Gruber’s “translation”, fairly well sums up how Yahoo is going through the process. It’s almost lose-lose: how can Yahoo remain independent and keep its shareholders happy?

I hope they know what they’re doing.