The proposed Microsoft takeover of Yahoo! "raises troubling questions", says one expert.

Writing on the official Google blog David Drummond, senior vice-president for the search engine giant, said that the move, if successful, could threaten the "openness" of the internet.

He asked: "Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC?"

Adding that he felt the move might allow Microsoft to "extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the internet".

There would be "plenty of time" for these, and other, question to be addressed as the takeover was examined, he concluded.

It was announced on Friday that Microsoft had launched a hostile takeover bid which valued Yahoo at approximately 22 billion GBP.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).