[Reuters]

Google Inc fired back on Sunday at Microsoft Corp’s $44.6 billion bid to acquire Yahoo Inc, accusing Microsoft of seeking to extend its computer software monopoly deeper into the Internet realm.

If google and yahoo were to merge, it would combine the top two suppliers of Web-based e-mail, instant messaging (IM) and portals, which act as starting points for hundreds of millions of users seeking information on the Web, dominating the field of information and a good portion of the internet.

“A person familiar with Google’s thinking said the company believes Microsoft is using the same playbook it did in the 1990s to switch Windows users away from Web browser pioneer Netscape Communications to its own Internet Explorer.”

However, Microsoft fights back, commenting on Google,which has a 75 percent share of the worldwide Web search market.

The battle has begun.