For what felt like an eternity (four years), computer corporate giants Yahoo! and Microsoft have been contemplating merging their assets in one way or another. After rumours fired up again recently of a deal, one was confirmed this morning, which will see Microsoft's newly launched search engine Bing powering Yahoo's searches. The keyword here is powered -- Yahoo! will still have control over all of its assets, including searches.

The corporation's latest CEO Carol Bartz has stated recently she'd go through with it if "boatloads of money" were involved, though no figures have been released as such yet.

Part of the motivation behind the deal, of course, is to stand a fighting chance against the virtually omnipotent Google, which boasts a 67% global share at present. That corporation has in the past attempted to circumvent the current partnership, proposing a deal of its own with Yahoo! last year, quickly shut down by threats to sue by antitrust regulators.

                                      (Bartz and Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer signing the new contract.)

Terms of the agreement include a 10-year contract, with Microsoft's adCenter platform pushing Yahoo's search-based advertising business, as well as paying them traffic acquisition costs at an 88 percent rate over an initial five year period. In return, the deal will give Bing a nice boost, both in terms of users and efficiency, as there are now larger data pools to work with. More, Microsoft is entitled to use Yahoo's seach engine tech, which it can implement into its existing platforms if it wishes. No turning back, now, Yahoo! -- Microsoft has your secrets.

The deal won't officially go through until next year, pending antitrust review, but both entities anticipate a smooth process. A key lawmaker on antitrust matters did say however said it "warrants [their] careful scrutiny," while Wisconsin Democrat and Senate antitrust subcomittee chairman Sen. Herb Kohl stated the deal has "potentially far-reaching consequences for consumers and advertisers" in such a competitive industry, and they will be reviewing it as such.