According to numerous sources, Yahoo has been seriously courting former Microsoft exec Blake Irving to take over as one of its key execs, running its product organization and essentially becoming the Internet “visionary” many think the company lacks.

While it is unclear if Irving has agreed to take the job, sources said Yahoo (YHOO) management was keen on him working there.

A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment when BoomTown asked about its discussions with Irving about the job.

I also reached out to Irving, but he has not responded.

It’s unclear what the move means for current CTO and Chief Product Officer Ari Balogh. But sources said Balogh has been involved in the search, and was planning on taking some time off from Yahoo or even quitting soon for personal reasons.

Irving, who was well liked at Microsoft (MSFT), could certainly fill Balogh’s shoes, having run major businesses there for many years in a variety of executive jobs.

He left Microsoft in 2007, as its corporate VP for the Windows Live Platform group, after being there for 15 years to spend some time with his family in California. Irving had always commuted to Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash. headquarters.

According to his Facebook page, Irving now lives in laid-back San Luis Obispo, which is midway between Silicon Valley and Los Angeles.

Sources said after time off, Irving had recently become eager to reengage in the Internet sector.

Yahoo has long wanted to hire Irving, many said. And, if it did manage to nab Irving, the timing would also be fortuitous, since the company is in the midst of launching its massive search and online advertising partnership with Microsoft.

Balogh’s possible parting is one of many among top Yahoo execs recently. Ad sales head Joanne Bradford departed the company to join Demand Media, while longtime tech exec Ash Patel said he would not return from a sabbatical he took last year.

Here is Irving’s bio, from a page still up at Microsoft’s Web site:

Blake Irving left Microsoft in 2007 after 15 years with the company.

In his last role as corporate vice president of the Windows Live Platform group (WLP), Blake Irving led the effort to build and operate the most efficient, global Internet-scale services platform with the broadest and most profitable advertiser and developer ecosystem. In this capacity, Irving was responsible for driving and managing datacenter and technical operations.

Irving joined Microsoft in October 1992 and has served in a variety of development and general management positions. Irving and his teams have been responsible for Microsoft’s first Internet video conferencing and collaboration products, Internet phone, Internet mail client and instant messaging and blogging service. Irving has held development and marketing management roles on the Microsoft® Internet Explorer browser software and Windows® operating system teams.

Before joining Microsoft, Irving held development and marketing management positions at Xerox Corp., Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. and Compaq Computer Corp. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State University and a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University.

Yahoo Chief Technologist Sam Pullara (pictured here) is leaving the company to become an Entrepreneur in Residence at Benchmark Capital.

He’s the second major exec to leave Yahoo (YHOO) for greener pastures in a week.

Yahoo’s head of North American Revenue, Joanne Bradford–in charge of the company’s key advertising business–quit Monday to take a top job at social media start-up Demand Media.

In addition, longtime Yahoo tech exec Ash Patel finally left Yahoo for good, which is what BoomTown said was likely in a post about his taking a sabbatical from the company back in November.

After hearing that Pullara is also leaving, BoomTown inquired about his departure earlier in the week and got a call from Yahoo PR today confirming the move.

“Sam Pullara is leaving Yahoo! to pursue a new venture at Benchmark Capital as an EIR (Entrepreneur in Residence). His last day will be April 1st. In his time at Yahoo! Sam made many valuable contributions to our business, helping guide important corporate and business strategy projects and nurturing several technology initiatives. We wish him the best of luck in his new endeavors.”

Pullara is a major tech exec at Yahoo, having run its platforms unit, among other key initiatives.

He also made a statement:

My time at Yahoo! has been a great personal and professional experience. With the social strategy and business development projects I’ve been focusing on now in their implementation phase, and my pet technology project, YQL, now widely deployed both inside and outside of Yahoo!, it’s a natural time for me to transition and spend time with my family before returning to my entrepreneurial roots. I’m leaving Yahoo! with no doubt that the company is on the right track and in good hands.

Well, if you say so, Sam.

Unfortunately, there will be more departures to come from Yahoo, said multiple sources throughout the company, many of whom are key and innovative execs whom Yahoo can ill afford to lose.

Such as Pullara. On his LinkedIn page, Pullara wrote of his role at the Internet giant:

“My current role is within the product strategy group, acting as chief technologist of Yahoo!. I’m responsible for ensuring the products we develop are competitive and provide compelling customer experiences by driving a dialogue between internal products groups, research and business leaders. I am also responsible for technical evaluations, both internal and external, to drive improvements into our products. In addition I will work closely with our M&A team, champion new technology initiatives, and evangelize Yahoo! technology both inside and outside of Yahoo!.”

Here’s the press release from Benchmark:

Sam Pullara Joins Benchmark Capital as Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Menlo Park, CA, March 19, 2010–Benchmark Capital, an early-stage technology venture capital firm, today announced that Sam Pullara has joined the firm as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Pullara was most recently at Yahoo! as Chief Technologist, where he was responsible for Yahoo!’s product and technology strategy across the organization. In addition to his time at Yahoo!, Pullara has spent a significant part of his career building successful start-up companies.

“I am very excited to work with Benchmark Capital, and with Peter Fenton again,” said Pullara. “It is an amazing time to be starting a new venture and advising great entrepreneurs. Working closely with exceptional investors and advisors who are deeply committed to the entrepreneur’s success was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

In addition to crafting corporate technology strategy at Yahoo!, Pullara was also involved in M&A and strategic partnership activity while still remaining an active coder. Before Yahoo!, Pullara was CEO of Gauntlet Systems which was acquired by Borland in 2006. Gauntlet Systems was founded while Pullara was an EIR at Accel Partners. Gauntlet was the outgrowth of Pullara’s experience as an engineer at WebLogic, Inc. where he was an early employee and later at BEA Systems after it acquired WebLogic in 1998. Sam is also an active angel investor and startup advisor.

“Sam is one of the few people who can blend deep technical ability with an uncanny business perspective,” said Peter Fenton, general partner, Benchmark Capital. “He’s one of the most talented people I’ve had the opportunity to work with, and we’re thrilled to have him on board at Benchmark.”

And, for your weekend enjoyment, here’s a video of the most supreme Freddie Mercury of Queen singing “Another One Bites the Dust,” which is, unfortunately, turning into Yahoo’s theme song again:

Longtime Yahoo tech leader Ash Patel is taking some time off until early 2010.

Yahoo (YHOO) confirmed the break to BoomTown.

In recent days, many inside the company had mistakenly thought the 44-year-old EVP for Product Architecture & Strategy was departing the company for good.

Actually, it’s more of a sabbatical for Patel (pictured here). But it could turn out Patel will not come back from it at all.

For now, Yahoo is saying he will.

“Ash will be taking some well-deserved time off to spend time with his family,” said Yahoo in a statement to me. “He will be returning to Yahoo! in early 2010.”

In his latest of many jobs at Yahoo, where he has been employed since 1996, Patel works with its products organization, run by CTO and EVP of Products Ari Balogh, “to drive the development of a comprehensive product strategy, as well as potential strategic deals, helping to evolve and evaluate its audience product and technology strategy.”

It’s one of many leadership positions Patel has had at Yahoo, as the company has reorganized many times over the years, including as EVP of its Audience Products Division, EVP of Platforms and Infrastructure, SVP of Platform Engineering and chief product officer.

He also played a key role as architect of several major Yahoo products, such as MyYahoo!, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Chat and many others.

In fact, Patel ended up in a major exec role in a reorg that former Yahoo CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang did in the summer of 2008.

But the appointment of Patel to head the new Global Products group was greeted with some internal dissent, since many were pushing for faster change and new management at the Silicon Valley icon.

Yang was said to have insisted that Patel remain on as planned. He reported directly to President Sue Decker.

Patel stayed on after new CEO Carol Bartz got the top job in January, which was the subject of much interest among longtime Yahoo staff, since he has been one of the few true Yahoo veterans left in a high-ranking role.

In another reorg in late February, this time by Bartz, Patel got his latest title and was placed under Balogh.

Here is a video interview I did with Patel last December about the launch of some open and social networking initiatives at Yahoo (SVP Tapan Bhat, who had once reported to Patel, is also in the video):

It’s pretty much what BoomTown has been reporting all week about the reorg.

Top-down simplification, which is another word for: Carol rules over Yahoo (YHOO).

CTO Ari Balogh gets a lot of stuff as new head of products, and so does U.S. head Hilary Schneider, including mobile, as EVP of North American Region. Both report to Bartz.

Unmentioned, but Audience Products head Ash Patel is still in. So is General Counsel Michael Callahan.

New chief marketing officer is Elisa Steele, who come from NetApps (NTAP). Bartz happens to be on the board of NetApps, by the way.

New International head TBD.

Bartz also sent an email to employees about the changes.

Here is the entire memo:

New Yahoo! Management Structure Overview

February 26, 2009

· Our goal as a company is simple: to consistently deliver awesome consumer and advertiser experiences everywhere in the world we do business. So we’re creating an organization to enable improvements in our product quality and operational efficiency, as well as clear decision making and accountability.

· Tech and Product groups will be combined to create a single organization called Products. Products will be led by Ari Balogh as EVP of Products and CTO, reporting to Carol Bartz, with the goal of enabling extraordinary consumer experiences tied to compelling advertiser and publisher offerings. This organization is responsible for the vision, strategy, and quality of every product we create–regardless of region, device format or category.

· There are now two regions–North America and International. The regions are responsible for delivering Yahoo!’s products, programming and services to consumers, partners and advertisers in local markets. North America will be led by Hilary Schneider, EVP, North American Region, reporting to Carol Bartz. International’s leader will be hired soon.

. Mobile will continue to be a key priority for Yahoo!. Going forward, David Ko will lead the mobile business, strategy and monetization teams for Yahoo! (Head of Global Mobile Business, reporting to Hilary Schneider). All of our product teams will be responsible for incorporating mobile innovations into their products.

· A Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) role has been created to oversee our global marketing strategy and provide direction for our marketing function. Today, we named our new CMO, Elisa Steele. Elisa starts on March 23. She will bring together the various marketing teams that have been spread across the company.

· A new Customer Advocacy group will help us to better hear the voice of the customer (consumers/advertisers) across the company and incorporate what we hear into all our work throughout Yahoo!. We will hire a new leader for this team.

· The newly created Service Engineering & Operations (SE&O) team will be chartered with delivering common technology services at scale, including application management and infrastructure. The team will be led by David Dibble, SVP of SE&O. We’re bringing Service Engineering together as one group because these engineers bring expertise that is best applied horizontally.

· Our corporate functions will consist of HR led by David Windley, Legal led by Michael Callahan, and our CFO is to be hired, with Blake Jorgensen remaining through the transition. Joel Jones will serve as Carol Bartz’s chief of staff.

· This structure is designed to last two to four years; however, we’ll continue to make adjustments as needed. But we expect this core structure will stay in place.

· These changes become effective immediately.

There’s no question Yahoo owes longtime veteran exec Ash Patel a lot, as it has grown into a global Internet behemoth.

Since getting to the company in 1996–which essentially means he was present at the creation–Patel (pictured here) has, as the corporate page on its top execs notes, played “key roles across the company including architecting MyYahoo!, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! identity and the user database, and many other products that continue to impact millions of Yahoo! users.”

Now as EVP of the Audience Product Division, he presides over pretty much all of Yahoo’s well-known consumer products, from its homepage to its email to its search to, more recently, the product development of its media offerings.

But, because of his longevity, vast purview and clear impact on the company, Patel has also become a symbol for many inside Yahoo (YHOO) right now, who mention him most often in the should-he-stay-or-should-he-go-now debates about the future of the company and who should be in charge of that.

Thus, Patel’s fate is seen as a key indicator of what is to come at the company, especially whether he and it can change with the very fast-changing times. While his love and loyalty to Yahoo are unquestioned, like many at Yahoo, can he be a true agent of change who could upend all he has built?

The big question, of course: Can old Yahoos learn new tricks?

That, of course, is all now up to new CEO Carol Bartz, who is busy restructuring the company to her liking, in decisions that are about to come down after only six weeks into her tenure.

Bartz is clearly casting herself as the agent of dramatic change and speed, as she noted that in a recent memo to staff:

What does this have to do with the need for speed? Many of the things I just talked about could have and should have been decided earlier but we haven’t been an organization that has embraced the need for speedy decisions, even when they are the tough ones. We can all be part of changing this and getting back to an organization that is fast on its feet.”

With the reorganization in flux, even as big departures occur (mobile head Marco Boerries today, for example), it could start to feel like the rapture at Yahoo, as the old ways make way for, well, the unknown.

Right now, it seems Patel might stay, reporting to CTO Ari Balogh, who is about to also get control over all of Yahoo’s products. Previously, Patel reported directly to outgoing President Sue Decker.

But others are convinced he will go, if not right away in the current upheaval, then soon enough, with Bartz and Balogh on the hunt for a crackerjack new outside product exec to take over and, more importantly, take a fresh look Yahoo’s many offerings.

That’s been Patel’s job for a long time, after a long rise to the top from when he arrived from Oracle (ORCL). He’s been SVP of platform engineering, chief product officer and EVP of the Platforms and Infrastructure Division, before getting his most recent title in one of Yahoo’s umpteenth reorgs.

“Ash is the symbol of old Yahoo, and now he is really actually one of the only ones with longevity in top management,” said one person at the company. “What happens to him–whether he stays and transforms or simply goes–says a lot about the future of Yahoo.”

Here is a video interview I did with Patel recently about the launch of some open and social-networking initiatives at Yahoo (Front Doors head Tapan Bhat, who reports to Patel, is also in the video):

“It’s being changed every minute,” joked one Yahoo source about the reorg now in process at Yahoo, which is being shepherded by new CEO Carol Bartz.

Actually, it’s kind of true, as execs at the troubled Web company are being moved around the board like chess pieces, while other players are added.

According to numerous sources, mostly in Yahoo’s Sunnyvale, Calif. HQ, things are still in flux and not completely settled as yet.

But one thing is clear: Layers are being collapsed quickly, as fewer people are in charge of more, with all roads leading to Bartz.

Here’s the current lay of the land, in what is fast becoming Carol Country at Yahoo (YHOO):

Ari, Ari, Ari!

As BoomTown reported earlier this week, it looks like CTO Ari Balogh will be the biggest winner in the management restructuring, getting to ride herd over the entire product organization, both development and technology.

Most interesting is that Audience Product head and longtime Yahoo veteran Ash Patel is still staying–at this point at least–and report to Balogh (Patel had previously reported directly to outgoing President Sue Decker).

Many at Yahoo think Patel will eventually leave, even if he is not out in the current set-up.

But, if he stays, Patel will apparently focus more on product architecture, if he does remain, which is kind of the purview of Venkat Panchapakesan, EVP of the Audience Technology Group, who already reports to Balogh.

Superman exec Ari will surely sort it all out!

In this scenario, Front Doors head Tapan Bhat could get more product development responsibility, especially since media product development is being moved centrally under Patel.

Hilary Gets More Stuff

As someone perceived internally as a favorite of Decker, U.S. head Hilary Schneider seems to be scoring anyway.

She’ll run a new U.S. division, with media head Jeff Dossett under her, as well as advertising sales head Joanne Bradford.

Some Yahoos, though, think Bradford could report directly to Bartz, given her purview is the most important part of Yahoo’s business.

Schneider will also apparently get a much diminished Connected Life unit, which focuses on mobile and other devices, after the departure of its longtime head Marco Boerries.

I posted news of his leaving earlier today, which now means that part of Yahoo will not stand on its own as a separate fiefdom.

Who Is Joel Jones?

Indeed. Yahoo’s current VP of corporate strategy and former McKinsey consultant, Joel Jones (pictured here), is one of the nominees to be tapped to be Bartz’s chief of staff.

In the new, more centralized organization that Bartz is obviously creating, that will be much more than a bag-carrying role, to be sure.

“Joel is as sharp as they come,” said one former Yahoo. Sharp enough to help Bartz negotiate with Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer?

No news on a possibly COO for Bartz, but she is getting a chief marketing officer to head up the brand and PR functions. Many are suggesting an exec like Pepsi-Cola North America interactive marketing exec John Vail, as I have previously reported, although Yahoo brand exec Allen Olivo is the internal candidate.

Also apparently staying for now is another Decker favorite, CFO Blake Jorgensen.

More to come!

On Friday, BoomTown first reported that new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is likely to be announcing a sweeping new management structure soon, which can only mean the possibility that some existing top execs are likely to be broomed out, even as some new ones are ushered in.

“This is going to be a full-scale peanut butter recall,” joked one exec, referring to the infamous “Peanut Butter Manifesto,” which was sent around the company several years ago by former exec Brad Garlinghouse. It laid bare the problems at Yahoo (YHOO), most especially a decided lack of decision-making and lugubrious levels of managers.

But the reorganization of Yahoo’s top-heavy management structures–I once dubbed it the “attack of the Yahoo vice presidents”–will be a bit sticky, given all the (slow-)moving parts at Yahoo (YHOO).

Nonetheless, Bartz signaled a “big week” ahead in one internal memo I obtained, which was sent out Friday.

So what’s to come?

Here’s a rough primer, based on talking to numerous sources inside and outside of Yahoo:

The Basics:

In order to start to revive Yahoo, Bartz is likely to impose a more top-down management style on the hopelessly confusing “matrix” organization now in place at the company.

She has spent the last six weeks touring Yahoo, getting to see a lot of presentations on its many, many products and conducting a whirlwind of meetings with execs.

Broadly, most expect Bartz to severely roll back a variety of previous reorganizations done by former CEO Jerry Yang and outgoing President Sue Decker, in order to impose more centralized control over the place and focus it more narrowly.

Presumably, lattes–paid for by Yang and co-founder David Filo–will remain free.

Out With the Old:

There’s no question that Yahoo is going to see the departure of several top execs, along with the elevation of others.

Among those who are more likely to be definitely in, though, is CTO Ari Balogh (pictured here), a relatively recent hire who has been a popular exec within Yahoo.

The Wall Street Journal first noted the possible rise of Balogh in a follow-up piece to this column’s story on the overall reorg over the weekend, noting that he would become head of product.

Presumably, Balogh will be one of the point men on what to do about search, in the should-I-stay-or-should-I-sell-now debate that never seems to end at Yahoo.

One interesting idea floating around Yahoo is that he becomes head of all its products, as well as continuing to run its tech arm.

That’s a good idea, since Yahoo has desperately needed an empowered leader under Bartz, who focuses like a laser beam on products.

“It all starts with that,” said one former exec. “One single person has to be the champion of what Yahoo makes.”

But what does that mean for Ash Patel, EVP of Yahoo’s Audience Product Division? Well, the longtime Yahoo veteran could now report to Balogh (he had previously reported to Decker directly) or, presumably, leave.

Patel’s fate, of course, impacts that of many others, such as Front Doors head Tapan Bhat, who is in charge of a major homepage redesign that Bartz just delayed the launch of to make it better.

Venkat Panchapakesan, EVP of the Audience Technology Group, seems safer, given that he reports to Balogh already and is responsible for the company’s overall product technology and platform strategy, such as its open efforts.

Also safer than not is General Counsel Michael Callahan, as well as U.S. EVP Hilary Schneider.

But Schneider’s purview might change a bit if U.S. advertising sales head Joanne Bradford–who now reports to her–is elevated to a higher position or if sales is taken out from under Schneider.

It’s not a stretch to imagine Bartz wanting more control of the part of Yahoo that brings in the bucks.

The fate of Connected Life Division EVP Marco Boerries is dicier–think Yahoo mobile and other devices–as it is for CFO Blake Jorgensen and David Windley, who heads human resources.

Both Jorgensen and Windley were favored by Decker, which does not necessarily make them goners. But both are in jobs on which Bartz will have to rely much more, so she might want her own choices in place.

Boerries (pictured here), a talented but more freewheeling exec under Yang, is another question all together. Already wealthy from selling several companies, the entrepreneurial exec is most often mentioned by sources as someone unlikely to stick around, especially if Bartz tries to rein him in more. (In addition, Boerries has family issues requiring that he spend a lot of time in his native Germany.)

As to the many Yahoo SVPs and VPs? Let’s just say it is likely there will be many fewer of them, as Bartz cuts, consolidates, simplifies and centralizes divisions more.

In With the New:

One hire that is definitely coming is a new chief of marketing to take over Yahoo’s brand, as well as its PR function. Yahoo has not had that kind of powerful exec in a long time, and it is more likely Bartz will go for an outside star here.

One outside name skittering around Yahoo for the role is John Vail (pictured here), director of interactive marketing for Pepsi-Cola North America, who knows Yahoo well.

(An obvious internal candidate for the job would be Yahoo’s Global Brand Marketing SVP, Allen Olivo, who could hit the road if not selected.)

Also a possibility is adding a COO with more Web experience to come in to help Bartz. There are plenty of candidates for that job all over the Internet sector.

But Bartz seems to be the kind of exec who favors flying solo and having key execs report to her to keep a finger on the pulse of a company. She is most definitely not going to have an entourage around her.

In fact, said one person familiar with the situation: “It’s long past time for new plumbing, and [Bartz] seems ready to flush a lot out that has long needed to go.”

Will Yahoo’s media properties fall flat with sweeping new changes that are afoot that will drastically change the way the company bakes its content offerings?

Or will the ability to have a single, highly scaleable, centrally developed architecture make the media programming Yahoo delivers more responsive and flexible in the era of fast-twitch bloggers (all while cutting costs)?

According to many sources inside and outside the company, product development for Yahoo’s heavily trafficked media operations–including its powerful News, Finance and Sports sites–is set to be moved under Ash Patel, who is EVP of the company’s Audience Product Division.

The move has been supported by U.S. Audience head Jeff Dossett, who came to Yahoo (YHOO) from Microsoft (MSFT). He replaced former media head Scott Moore, who is about to take over content efforts at Microsoft.

The centralization of product development for the media properties was much resisted by Moore and by many managers within Yahoo’s media group, who are worried and unhappy about the upcoming change.

Sources told BoomTown that it is one of many changes coming to the unit, which is likely to soon get a dramatic management restructuring too.

Under the new configuration, which sources said had been approved by CEO Carol Bartz, media products–but not editorial programming–will be developed “globally” at Yahoo’s Sunnyvale HQ in Northern California.

Until now, such development has been mostly done by individual media properties, many of which are located down south, in Santa Monica.

But a move to global product and platform development has been steady at Yahoo for a while. The move to change how media are made was initially championed by former President Sue Decker, but has continued to move forward after she announced in January that she planned to leave the company.

As with most things, there are pros and cons to the new approach.

The pro argument posits that centralizing the product development of a Yahoo media offering drives efficiencies, saves money, eliminates redundancies and accelerates growth across the world.

Said one on-the-bandwagon exec to me in an email: “This is a good and smart plan to achieve better balance between the benefits of a globally scalable product development and the need for regions to be very close to and responsive to local user and advertiser needs…there is huge upside (in user engagement and monetization) that will come from a deeper focus on editorial, content (original and licensed) and programming within the properties and most importantly across the network.”

Those who do not like the idea think it is wrong to separate the development of a product from the programming because the two are intricately dependent and need to be tweaked delicately.

In addition, they argue, it makes Yahoo media offerings, which have been largely successful, less unique and more dull.

“It’s like separating the cook from the recipe and ingredients,” said one person who thinks that it’s very hard to separate product from the content online. “You could end up with a really bad cake.”

Translation: I don’t think that I can take it/’Cause it took so long to bake it/And I’ll never have that recipe again.

Whatever the case for Yahoo’s media properties, I think we can all completely agree that this Donna Summers rendition of “MacArthur Park” remains as fresh and delicious as ever (plus it’s a karaoke video version, so feel free to sing along):

Here’s a video interview I did yesterday at the San Francisco event where Yahoo finally launched a lot of the new open and social elements that it has long said it was injecting into its most popular products.

BoomTown talked with the key movers of the initiatives: Ash Patel, Yahoo’s EVP of its Audience Product Division, and Tapan Bhat, its SVP of its Front Doors, Communities and Network Services.

(You can see screen shots and an official Yahoo video of the new features here.)

The initiatives Yahoo (YHOO) finally released into the wild have been long in the making, first discussed as just vaporware by Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (see that video below too).

Yahoo also hosted a session at its Sunnyvale HQ about its open plans in the fall.

And, after the longest of gestation periods, they arrived yesterday, in an impressive rollout.

The changes include some very deft rejiggering of Yahoo Mail, called a “smarter inbox,” with a new dashboard welcome page, easier ways to make connections, more filtered views, updates and third-party apps integrated into the application.

I thought the changes to the mail product were the most interesting, especially given the hundreds of millions of people using the product. It’s an interesting choice for a social entry point, aiming to give nonsocial-networking types enough of a taste of it without inundating them.

Of particular note were the third-party applications, such as for WordPress and Flickr, that launch nicely right in the email program.

Also cool was one app from Xoopit that surfaces old photos and photo links lost in the musty archives of old emails.

Yahoo also debuted an enhanced version of the homepage (previously announced in September) and My Yahoo, as well as a new toolbar and socialization elements added to its popular media properties.

It remains to be seen how popular these changes will become, especially since many consumers already have their social-networking lives on Facebook or MySpace.

In addition, both Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL and Microsoft (MSFT) have rolled out similar social and open changes to their sites recently, making it super-confusing for everyone.

But, better late than never, I always say, so here’s Bhat and Patel talking about Yahoo’s new stuff.

I had to load the video onto YouTube, as Brightcove had snafus (also below is Yang talking about the concepts at CES in January 2008):

Tapan Bhat and Ash Patel

Jerry Yang at January 2008 CES

(BoomTown interviewed top Yahoo execs Tapan Bhat and Ash Patel about the moves here.)

For a look-see, here is a Yahoo (YHOO) video about the launch and some screenshots of the changes (click on the images to make them larger):

Yahoo’s Official Video on Open and Social Launches

Yahoo Mail Main Page

Yahoo Mail Inbox

Xoopit in Yahoo Mail

Toolbar Notifications

Media Integration in Yahoo TV site

Open Applications

A lot has been written about the need for drastic layoffs at Yahoo, including reports that the troubled company was preparing to fire from 3,000 to 3,500 of its 15,000 employees.

As dramatic as that figure is, according to numerous sources, it’s more likely that Yahoo will cut only half that, beginning sometime in mid-December.

That date could move up, of course, depending on how bad the economic outlook get for Yahoo, but it is not likely Yahoo will make any move in front of its earnings next Tuesday, October 21.

Why? Well, because what Yahoo’s top brass has already done is given its managers cost-cutting targets and not specific marching orders on laying off a certain number of people across the board.

And that’s even if the management consulting company that Yahoo has hired to look over the company’s operations, Bain & Co., recommends more.

In addition, the figures that top execs–such as SVPs Hilary Schneider and Ash Patel–have handed down to their minions is a process that includes considerable negotiating and maneuvering among and between various managers. So, nothing is set in stone.

Thus, how Yahoo (YHOO) under-bosses reach those goals and what gets lopped does not have to necessarily be employees.

For example, a manager could table a project in the search area or perhaps not expand features planned.

Of course, slashing employee costs is always the easiest way to show significant cuts, and it does send a definite message to investors that Yahoo realizes it must clean up its operations.

“But that’s hacking and we have to be more surgical,” said one exec involved in the process.

But look for more cuts in staff in certain areas, because people are its major cost, such as in Yahoo’s finance, human resources and general and administrative units.

Of course, if its economic situation continues to dim and its stock keeps up its downward slide, Yahoo could move to more dramatic staff cuts, which many feel it should do right away.

One note: If Yahoo manages to successfully complete its merger talks with Time Warner (TWX) over its AOL unit before the December cost-cutting moves go into effect, the company could hold off all cuts until the pair figure out their integration plans.

And then, I would expect, the really large-scale layoffs would begin.

Yesterday, Yahoo trotted out a range of top execs who were unusually loquacious at its “open house,” where the company made a valiant effort to explain an aggressive strategy to open up its platform and products.

In an attempt to redefine and refocus itself, Yahoo has correctly wed itself to the trend toward more-open platforms, rather than locking consumers into its once tightly closed portal gates.

Yahoo (YHOO) has been accelerating its open activities of late, mostly related to search and ad infrastructure. Now it is trying to show that it can be open all over the company.

BoomTown liveblogged the event, here and here, but nothing is as good as hearing all about it from the horse’s mouth. Or, in this case, the Yahoos’ mouths.

So here are video interviews I did with a range of Yahoo’s top execs, including Audience Product Division EVP Ash Patel, Yahoo Media Group head Scott Moore (who cleverly used a Barbara Mandrell line to explain Yahoo’s open strategy), social media guru Marc Davis, Yahoo! Mail kingpin Scott Dietzen, Connected Life EVP Marco Boerries and PR minion Brad Williams:

Yahoo–because it has decided its living-inside-a-cave press strategy has been, shall we say, a bust–has invited a passel of media tomorrow to its Sunnyvale, Calif., HQ and will trot out a range of top execs to talk specifically about the various facets of its “open” strategy.

In an attempt to redefine and refocus itself, Yahoo has correctly wed itself to the trend toward more-open platforms, rather than locking consumers into its once tightly closed portal gates.

Yahoo (YHOO) has been accelerating its open activities of late, mostly related to its search and ad infrastructure. Now it is trying to show that it can be open all over the company.

Neither CEO Jerry Yang nor President Sue Decker will be at tomorrow’s event (he is at a Cisco board meeting, while she is in London–and BoomTown now sounds like the official Yahoo exec stalker). But the company will feature many key players.

The gathering will be kicked off by Yahoo’s CTO, Ari Balogh, for example, who has been a prime mover in the company’s open-platform strategy.

Also on deck: Yahoo Audience Product Division EVP Ash Patel, who will be talking about the opening up of platforms and products like email; Hilary Scheider, Yahoo U.S. EVP, who will discuss opening up Yahoo’s ad business; Yahoo Media Group head Scott Moore, who will cover how Yahoo’s content properties integrate third-party partners and also become more distributed; and Marc Davis, Yahoo’s “social media guru” in its Connected Life division, who will do the open dance related to mobile.

As I have previously written, this kind of conceptual shift toward open platforms is something many have felt Yahoo has needed to do in a bolder manner, as consumer interest in massive centralized portals like Yahoo has waned.

Following in the path of start-ups like Facebook, the vision is of a more widgetized and social Yahoo and a Yahoo available everywhere.

Yang has also made open a core Yahoo strategy, saying at one point:

“These key strategies will be enhanced by our adoption of new, more open technology platforms that will encourage the development of new applications and the involvement of third-party developers–and help enrich the user experience.”

Now if Yahoo could just open up a can of excitement to jack up its moribund stock price-now in the $17 range again–things would really be looking up.

YAHOO! ANNOUNCES REALIGNMENT TO SUPPORT CORE STRATEGIES

“These moves accelerate the ability of our deep and talented team to build great products, grow our audiences and improve monetization globally,” said Jerry Yang, CEO. “They are designed to put us in an even better position to leverage our leading global audience and capture the opportunity we see in the convergence of search and display advertising.”

Business and Product Changes

Yahoo!’s Marketing Products Division, Connected Life and Corporate Marketing groups will continue to operate as they do today.

Sources said a more substantial public announcement has been pushed by Yahoo’s board–apparently, an internal email to employees was considered too–to show Yahoo’s new team and that the company still has a strong bench, despite a lot of exec departures of late.

As we already wrote, the structure will pivot on several key execs, reporting to President Sue Decker.

EVP of Yahoo’s Platforms and Infrastructure division Ash Patel as head of a new Audience Products group (its name was changed from Global Products); Global Partner Solutions EVP Hilary Schneider as the head of a new U.S unit; various folks running around the rest of the globe.

There will also be another strategy team group with a new head, who has not yet been chosen.

And Yahoo will name Scott Dietzen (pictured, right) to take over part of the job of SVP Brad Garlinghouse, who running was running all communications properties and products. Dietzen will get the communications portfolio, which includes email and messaging, all under Patel.

(Community properties like Flickr will actually move under Front Door Head Tapan Bhat, who also reports to Patel.)

Dietzen was the president and CTO of Zimbra (and before that CTO of BEA Systems), the highly innovative open-source email startup Yahoo bought last fall for $350 million.

Garlinghouse (pictured, left), as we reported last night, will not be officially leaving until the end of the summer, though. He is currently traveling in Asia, sources said, and has not yet decided on a new gig.

He is, of course, the man who wrote the infamous “Peanut Butter Manifesto,” which first revealed deep tension within Yahoo.

Yahoo is likely to also announce changes in the engineering organization under CTO Ari Balogh, who is also orchestrating some massive and much-needed changes in the arena at Yahoo.

The only issue that arose was over the appointment of Ash Patel to head the new Global Products group. His appointment was greeted with internal dissent, but Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang was said to have insisted that Patel remain on as planned.

Last week, I outlined the sweeping internal changes at Yahoo (YHOO), which will again dramatically change the structure of management.

As we wrote, the new Global Products group will be headed by Patel (pictured here), who is currently EVP of Yahoo’s Platforms and Infrastructure division.

Much of the Network division, which until recently was under the leadership of the now departed Jeff Weiner, will move under Patel, including search, mail, instant messenger, front page, platforms and social networking.

All these products are considered “global” properties and products, including divisions run by communications and communities SVP Brad Garlinghouse, former Search SVP Vish Makhijani and Front Door head Tapan Bhat.

While Makhijnai is leaving, Bhat is staying so far and Garlinghouse–despite previous reports of his imminent departure–will likely stay on through the summer.

Sources said the prospect of working for Patel is not a welcome one for some Yahoo execs in the old Network division.

Patel has been at Yahoo since 1996, and some do not think his operational style is dynamic enough and claim his division has had problems shipping products.

In the new organization, Global Partner Solutions EVP Hilary Schneider (pictured here) will get purview over the entire U.S. region.

Schneider will continue to oversee all ad sales and add on the Yahoo Media Group under Scott Moore, who was Weiner’s other direct report.

That shift will bring together Yahoo’s vast content properties, like Yahoo Finance, with ad sales and align them more closely.

The rest of the world will be split up between three other regions: Europe, headed by Toby Coppel; Asia, run by Rose Tsou; and emerging markets, headed by Keith Nilsson.

Patel, Schneider and the others all report to Yahoo President Sue Decker.

The reorg was largely run by Decker (pictured here) and top HR execs. Yang was involved but not very visible in the process to top managers.

And all of this reorg might be moot anyway.

Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn is still pursuing his proxy fight to remove Yahoo’s board and management, which could come to a head at Yahoo’s annual meeting on Aug. 1.

And investors are pressing Microsoft (MSFT) to make another proposal to run Yahoo’s search ad and search businesses, which could include the software giant buying a significant stake in Yahoo.

While some think Yang will soon hand over the CEO reins to Decker, increasing numbers of insiders and outside investors are pushing for new management at the top, as Yahoo’s shares decline and more and more talent takes flight from the company.

“A fish stinks from the head,” joked one employee. “This reorg is change, but what we might need goes higher than this.”

“Where’s Jerry here? He is like a ghost,” said a Yahoo (YHOO) exec to me last week.

The exec was referring to the plans for a major overhaul of the management structure of the troubled Internet company–the dreaded and inevitable reorg that BoomTown wrote about in detail last week that is expected to be announced this week.

Many execs have told BoomTown that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang has been strangely absent from the communications around the reorg, which has been driven largely by President Sue Decker.

Well, ghosts aren’t real, but fear and uncertainty clearly are at Yahoo these days.

Thus, as Yahoo gears up for its annual meeting on Aug. 1, where it faces a proxy battle with billionaire Carl Icahn (whose billowing sails have been much trimmed by the huge drop in Yahoo’s stock price recently), here’s a certainty: Yet another bumpy week for Yahoo, its employees and shareholders.

Last week, BoomTown outlined the changes that Yahoo is likely to announce this week, part of a massive management overhaul that has spurred the departures of top execs and focused much attention on how Yahoo is going to be organized by its leadership for its many challenges going forward.

That is, of course, if that leadership does go forward.

This is not to say that either Yang or Decker is under any particular pressure to go, despite all the turmoil with the Internet giant and also from external forces.

In fact, I think Decker will soon get the CEO job outright.

As I wrote in my post last week of other possible CEO alternatives for Yahoo (and I stand by my pick of Mark Cuban, my friends!):

It’s the obvious question, of course, to ask whether the co-founder of Yahoo has what it takes to manage the company through what will doubtlessly be a very difficult year. … As Yahoo continues to be in limbo, pressure is sure to mount heavily on Yang, and it is not a stretch to imagine he will not remain in the top job at the troubled company for the long term.”

It is even easier to imagine after the last week, which saw much upheaval in the exec ranks, with several top managers headed out the door and others clearly considering scaling the perimeter fence.

There’s lots of reasons for that, including the form of the expected reorg that might put power–besides with Yang and Decker–into the hands of two key execs: Hilary Schneider and Ash Patel (both pictured here).

Patel, the longtime Yahoo exec who is currently EVP of its Platforms and Infrastructure division, is expected to lead a new Global Products group–made up of “global” properties and products.

Much of the Network division, which until recently was under the leadership of the now departed Jeff Weiner, will move under Patel, including search, mail, instant messenger, front page, platforms and social networking.

And Global Partner Solutions EVP Hilary Schneider is apparently to be placed over the entire U.S. region. Schneider keeps all of ad sales, but gets the Yahoo Media Group (which was also in the Network division).

That shift will bring together Yahoo’s vast content properties, like Yahoo Finance, with ad sales and align them more closely.

How closely Decker will hew to this setup, which was proposed internally over the last two weeks with little input from most managers, will be interesting to see.

Obviously, plans could change given the tepid reaction internally to it.

Most interesting to me is how involved Yang will be in the proceedings. Because, despite all the disappointment, the iconic Internet figure does still have a significant place in the hearts of his Yahoo troops.

But, even that has its limits and Yang is in more and more danger of truly losing those hearts and minds, especially if the company does not stop feeling like it is lurching from one drama to the next and very, very soon.

Said one former Yahoo who has been in touch with many still there and who still very much cares for the company (as most who have left truly do) about what the mood among current Yahoo employees is, in a common sentiment I hear often these days:

“They expressed frustration with the endless reorganizations and unclear future of the company. Also said that morale is really low and people feel like they aren’t seeing true leadership from the [senior] exec team.

“I definitely sense less sensitivity for Jerry in the conversations I have with people who are still with the company. Six months ago, whenever I mentioned that I feel sorry for Jerry (because I do) given everything going on, most people would nod or say, ‘me too.’ Now, the reaction is usually a groan or rolling eyes.”

As in: Boo!

Oh, Scott! Oh, Tapan! Want an extra office? Perhaps a giant sword?

Of the four powerful direct reports to former Yahoo Network division head Jeff Weiner–Front Door and Network Services’ Tapan Bhat, Brad Garlinghouse, who heads Yahoo’s communications and communities arenas, Media Group head Scott Moore and Yahoo Search’s Vish Makhijani–it seems only two are sticking around for now in the current state of extreme flux at Yahoo (YHOO).

That would be Moore and Bhat, who are being quiet–too quiet–as the new reorg, which we reported on in detail here, chugs into place next week.

It feels like an endless loop of “The Highlander” movie over at Yahoo these days!

The group seemingly collapsed after Weiner’s departure last week in a heap of increasingly messy goodbyes.

Makhijani is out, although it is not entirely clear that Garlinghouse is as yet.

Several sources now tell me he is considering staying around through the summer, rather than leaving in a week.

That is, unless a great opportunity opens up for the man who penned the infamous “Peanut Butter Manifesto,” which started Yahoo off on this journey of painful self-discovery.

Thanks, Brad!

Which leaves us with the fate of Bhat and Moore.

As I wrote, current plans are to fold the highly likable Bhat (pictured here) and his group into a new one called Global Products, which will be run by Ash Patel, currently EVP of Yahoo’s Platforms and Infrastructure division.

Bhat’s properties, like MyYahoo, are considered “global” and will be managed out of Yahoo HQ in Sunnyvale, Calif.

But will he stay?

While Bhat is reportedly unsure about the new structure and is considering his options, most expect him to do so, as there could be considerable upside for him even with Yahoo’s current turmoil.

So too for Moore (pictured here), who runs the Yahoo Media Group, which will be moved under Hilary Schneider, who is currently the Global Partner Solutions EVP.

The new org will bring together Yahoo’s vast content properties, like Yahoo Finance, with ad sales and align them more closely.

Several sources said Moore, a former Microsoft (MSFT) exec, is satisfied about the new arrangement and the prospect of reporting to Schneider.

And if Microsoft does return and try another takeover, he would also likely be set.

But other sources said he also has been scouting out a new start-up venture that could include some significant investors.

Indeed, execs like Moore and Bhat have a truckload of options, in any case.

Why? Because Yahoo’s President Sue Decker, who is helming the reorg, cannot afford to lose more top execs, placing the pair in the catbird seat.

And, with a lot of Web 2.0 companies in need of some experienced execs, familiar with big Internet companies, the sky might be the limit there too.

Company in crisis? Employees morale plummeting? Shareholders in revolt? Stock slumping? Barbarians at the gate?

The perfect time to get out the Rubik’s Cube for yet another Yahoo reorganization!

BoomTown now has the outline of the likely sweeping management changes at Yahoo (YHOO), which we reported on earlier this week here and also here, to be announced next week by the troubled Internet company.

The reorg, which will drastically change the structure of management, explains a lot about the spate of recent departures by top execs at the company.

Let’s just dive in, shall we?

First off, a spanking new Global Products group, which will be headed by Ash Patel (pictured here), who is currently EVP of Yahoo’s Platforms and Infrastructure division.

Much of the Network division, which until recently was under the leadership of the now departed Jeff Weiner, will move under Patel, including search, mail, instant messenger, front page, platforms and social networking.

All these products are considered “global” properties and products and will be managed out of Yahoo HQ in Sunnyvale, Calif.

That means the fiefdoms of communications and communities SVP Brad Garlinghouse, Search SVP Vish Makhijani and Front Door head Tapan Bhat will move into Global Products.

Which would explain why Makhijani is now headed out the door and Garlinghouse is on the fence about his own departure.

Bhat is also reportedly unsure about the new structure and is considering his options.

Unlike Qi Lu, Yahoo’s EVP of Search and Advertising Technology, who is also leaving and is considered a tech rock star at Yahoo, the prospect of working for Patel is not a welcome one for some Yahoo execs in the old Network division.

Patel has been at Yahoo since 1996, which makes him one of the oldest of old guards at the company.

“No one wants to report up through him,” said one Yahoo exec. “He’s a Yahoo lifer and not the kind of dynamic leader we need.”

More welcome–although not by all–is likely to be the move to give Global Partner Solutions EVP Hilary Schneider (pictured here) purview over the entire U.S. region.

She will be Patel’s peer in the new organization and both will report directly to Yahoo President Sue Decker.

Schneider’s arena will include all of ad sales and also the Yahoo Media Group under Scott Moore, who was Weiner’s other direct report.

That shift will bring together Yahoo’s vast content properties, like Yahoo Finance, with ad sales and align them more closely.

In addition, some other consumer-facing products will move to Moore under Schneider.

In the last reorganization, Moore got autos and real estate, as well as all entertainment and sports.

Several sources said Moore, a former Microsoft (MSFT) exec, is satisfied about the new arrangement and the prospect of reporting to Schneider.

But other sources said he also has been scouting out a new start-up venture that could include some significant investors.

In addition, some execs are worried about the likable Schneider’s ability to handle such a large job.

“There is lot on her plate and, while she is good at the business side, she is not a products person,” said one in a common refrain about her.

The rest of the world will be split up between three other regions: Europe, headed by Toby Coppel; Asia, run by Rose Tsou; and emerging markets, headed by Keith Nilsson.

Yahoo’s relatively new CTO Ari Balogh will take over a lot of Lu’s team with various engineering execs under him.

Top managers, most of whom had little input in the reorg, which was run by Decker (pictured here) and top HR execs, are reeling from the changes being presented with what most say is little consultation.

“I am not sure right now, with all this drama and all this tension from Microsoft’s failed takeover and the rest of it, why we have to do this,” said another exec. “This feels crazy.”

Maybe not so much. Yahoo shareholders are becoming restless after Microsoft dropped its $33 a share bid for Yahoo and want some action soon.

And billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn is still pursuing his proxy fight to remove Yahoo’s board and management.

Insiders within Yahoo suspect that top execs want to make changes before the Aug. 1 annual meeting, so they can show momentum.

The question is whether that will include another more significant change–the stepping up to Chairman for Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and the handing over the CEO reins to Decker.

Many execs said that Yang has been strangely absent from the communications around the reorg, which has been driven largely by Decker.

“Where’s Jerry here? He is like a ghost,” said another exec. “It is nerve-wracking.”

My special BoomTown Yahoo (YHOO) tip inbox is filling up fast this week from Yahoo employees–who, by the way, seem to like to use Gmail as their secret one–all buzzing about the next shoe to drop.

That clodhopper would be, of course, which major exec will leave the troubled Internet company, all due to a major reorg that is about the hit the company within the next weeks.

After the recent departure of Network division EVP Jeff Weiner and Chief Data Officer Usama Fayyad–along with the flashier exit of Flickr’s Co-Founders Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake (who, it should be said, have been easing quietly out the door for a while now)–several sources tell BoomTown that Search and Advertising Technology group EVP Qi Lu is the next on his way out.

Dr. Lu (pictured here), holder of 20 patents, leads development efforts around Yahoo’s Web search and monetization platforms.

But Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and President Sue Decker should be worried about just about everyone at this point, from Connected Life EVP Marco Boerries to Platforms and Infrastructure division EVP Ash Patel to the quartet of execs under Weiner.

Any insecurity in that group—Front Door and Network Services’ Tapan Bhat, Brad Garlinghouse, who heads Yahoo’s communications and communities arenas, Media Group head Scott Moore and Yahoo Search’s Vish Makhijani–and other SVPs on that level really, are especially worrisome, as the voids above and below them become larger and offers from the outside more enticing.

So, combined with the levels of tension rising at the company dramatically with the continued external turmoil, the looming reorg has got to have them plenty worried.

Worse, Yahoos are bracing for a big one this time–sources all talk about a much more deep and profound managerial shift–rather than the deck-chair-arranging that has been typical of most Yahoo reorgs.

For those just checking into this drama, reorganizations are to Yahoo as floods are to Venice–inevitable, annoying and very unpleasant.

Still, CEO Jerry Yang and President Sue Decker–who appears to be the main architect of the changes–do have to try to give the company’s management structure a new shape for the challenges ahead and before the Aug. 1 annual meeting.

This is critical, given everyone and anyone will want to see a clear and well-articulated strategy for Yahoo’s future from the pair by then.

(See them trying to do that at our D: All Things Digital conference last month, in a pair of videos below, when pressed on the subject by Walt Mossberg and me.)

More importantly, it has to be a plan for making the company as valuable as the $33-a-share offer from Microsoft (MSFT) that went poof after the software giant walked away from its takeover attempt in early May.

While Wall Street and major shareholders have been insisting (and hoping fervently) that Microsoft will return to buy all of Yahoo again, BoomTown is here to tell them it’s kind of like waiting for Godot.

Which has made them very frustrated. Very, very. A lot. Tons. Much.

“Jerry and Sue have no more chances to get this right,” said one major shareholder. “This is it.”

Translation: As tired as they must be by now, Yang and Decker have to pull the biggest rabbit ever out of the hat in this reorg and resetting at Yahoo.

Sources say the reorg will focus on creating more of a global product organization, because too much development of common products (like email) is being done all over the company worldwide.

In addition, many have suggested creating a more integrated relationship between products and their revenue sources.

Not having those responsible for selling ads in close sync with, for example, new content or software initiatives has produced a level of frustration within executive ranks at Yahoo.

Right now, for example, Global Partners Solutions EVP Hilary Schneider (pictured here) is in charge of all ad sales, although many other parts of Weiner’s former group rely on her efforts without reporting to her.

Many sources expect that Schneider is likely to amass more power in the new structure–she is close to Decker, who must dramatically rejigger Yahoo’s top echelons to better focus the company on its stated objectives of becoming the premier ad network and a consumer “starting point.”

Smack dab in the middle of a storm where it’s raining shoes, shoes and more shoes, of course.

Here are the two videos of Yang and Decker at D6:

Part 1

Part 2

How glad BoomTown was to finally see Jerry Yang up close and personal, after our valiant but futile efforts to get near the Yahoo co-founder and CEO in 2007.

No, we’re not stalking him in a restraining-order kind of way, although I did stake a claim to a front-row seat in the intimate theater at the Las Vegas Hilton for his keynote this morning at the Consumer Electronics Show, where Yang couldn’t help but see me.

Like he cared!

Not at all, as he was riveted to delivering his shtick about Yahoo’s mobile efforts (it’s a 3.0 version, according to Yang, which is a good move since Web 2.0–in general and in particular–has not been so kind to the Internet giant), as well as giving the audience a glimpse of some interesting new concepts related to its popular email program.

The front rows were so packed with top Yahoo execs–including President Sue Decker, as well as David Filo, Jeff Weiner, Brad Garlinghouse, Ash Patel, Dave Karnstedt, Bradley Horowitz, Hilary Schneider and even Chairman and former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel–that you had to wonder who was running the show back in Sunnyvale, Calif.

(I mean, say, if Google had decided to launch a sneak attack today with their bicycle brigade, it could have taken over Yahoo without a shot fired!)

Yang maintained a low-key tone throughout the presentation, as is his way (I kept imagining the performance being done by Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, who would have sold it all hard until he popped a vein).

Nonetheless, Yang did get the message through that opening its platform up to third-party developers would be a big push in 2008 for Yahoo.

So, the widgets in the excellent mobile product, called Yahoo! Go 3.0, are laudable and much more innovative than anything out there, even though Yahoo has been too quiet about marketing its Yahoo! Go product until now.

But at CES, Yang brought Yahoo Connected Life Executive Vice President Marco Boerries (pictured here) out to show off the mobile apps, including one from MTV (Viacom head Philippe Dauman and MTV Networks head Judith McGrath were in the audience) that seemed fun.

More interesting was Yang’s presenting new concepts for its Yahoo Mail product, which will be more social, relevant and integrated. A lot of this functionality is already being used by the open-source email company Zimbra, which Yahoo recently acquired (and whose head Satish Dharmaraj I interviewed last week).

As I wrote in that piece, I love the innovations, including ranking of those you email with most frequently and instant mapping from email, as well as a plethora of great features for email.

So, one vexing part of Yang’s presentation was that this concept needs to become a reality tomorrow. He brought out Co-Founder and interim CTO Filo to basically promise “soon,” but I say: Make it snappy!

I know, we’re pushy when it comes to Yahoo, but it’s because we care!

Well, care is not the right word exactly, but we are certain that a powerful and pioneering company like Yahoo can out-innovate these Web 2.0 newbies who get ridiculous funding to make goofy widgets and have the nerve to call it a business.

Thus, we took the chance and his prone position after the speech surrounded by well-wishers to go up and say hello in person to Yang, whom BoomTown has known for longer than either of us would care to say.

And, miracle of miracles, Yang said it had been far too long since we had gotten together and agreed to meet in 2008, a meeting for which we have been asking and egregiously posting about forever, to no avail.

How much does BoomTown love CES? Not so much.

But if it gets me lunch with Yang, I love it. So, Jerry, it’s officially 2008 and I am waiting by the phone for your call.

Here is my video of parts of Yang’s keynote:

We have almost nothing to report today on Yahoo, except to point out that there are only three more days until the official end of CEO Jerry Yang’s 100-day No-Sacred-Cows Vision Quest.

While we expect the day to pass quietly at Yahoo’s Sunnyvale campus, BoomTown will mark the moment while on the Big Island of Hawaii, where August Capital VC David Hornik is holding his first gathering called The Lobby. He’s billing it as a “new media salon,” but all I know is that there are a lot of Silicon Valley types I can annoy in paradise!

Speaking of annoying, the departure of Yahoo’s marketing chief Cammie Dunaway was more than a little confusing in that it was clearly done quickly and without a lot of preparation. That leaves yet another empty slot at the top of the company going unfilled with more changes in the organizational structure of Yahoo.

Essentially, President Sue Decker said in a memo that she was splitting up the Network Marketing Division from the Customer Experience Division, which were both under Dunaway. While there are interim people in place, it is obvious the job Dunaway had will be cut back in power.

While that might be a good thing, and change is often for the best at Yahoo these days, getting major execs to sit still for a while is also advisable. Of course, Yahoo does not always have complete control of this situation.

Right now, for example, there is no CTO in place at Yahoo, following the departure in June of longtime tech head Farzad Nazem.

I have been talking a lot to Yahoo techies about that situation, which remains in flux. According to them, they don’t expect a hire at all (which Yahoo had said it would undertake when Nazem left).

Instead, it is being managed by a troika of execs in three areas–Executive Vice President, Platforms and Infrastructure Division Ash Patel; Executive Vice President of Engineering Search and Search Marketing Qi Lu; and Dr. Usama Fayyad, Chief Data Officer and Executive Vice President, Research and Strategic Data Solutions.

Of course, co-founder David Filo, who has remained at Yahoo all this time (even still tinkering with its servers) hovers quietly above it all as the iconic techie of Yahoo.