Among the week's biggest business news has been the on-again, off-again maybe Microsoft-Yahoo deal. While last week it appeared talks had completely fallen apart, now it looks like Microsoft has re-entered the fray. This comes after it appeared that Yahoo was going to hand over part of its search advertising business to—gasp—Google, and after activist investor Carl Icahn bought Yahoo shares and started pushing board members to reconsider a deal with Microsoft by threatening to dismiss a handful of them. According to the Wall Street Journal, sources close to the deal say that, "Microsoft has proposed to Yahoo a deal related to advertisements that run next to Internet search results." These search advertisements are primarily dominated by Google right now.

This week's survey question addresses the outcome of a potential partnership (or merger) and how it would effect small business owners—many of whom use Internet search advertising—and consumers. Would a Microsoft-Yahoo merger be a good thing for business owners and Internet users? Or do you expect there to be no net effect? Since this isn't a simple "yes" or "no" answer please use the comments section below to tell us what you think, and why.