Rick may come up with nothing when he thinks of Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), but the Internet giant retains many competitive advantages, beyond even its well-known Internet brand. Take, for instance, its formidable user base, many of which are locked in and loyal. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) may have a lot of stickiness for search -- and, in fact, it recently came to light that Google had even increased its share of the search market -- but one might argue that, compared with many of its other endeavors, search is its major source of stickiness. (Most recently, the beta launch of Google Finance was an obvious competitive jab, but Yahoo!'s on it.)

Google may be getting into everything but the kitchen sink, but that doesn't mean all of Google's varied and sundry services are nearly as popular as its simple search function. Like Rick, I also use Gmail for most of my Web-based email, but I have only a handful of friends who also use it (my 100 invitations have sat dormant for ages) -- Gmail growth stalled this year; it currently has only 7.1 million users in the U.S., compared with 52 million U.S. users for Yahoo! Mail, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Worldwide, Gmail has 52 million users -- compared with a whopping 226 million Yahoo! Mail users. (So, for the time being, since Google Talk is tied to Gmail, it's also dead in the water.)

Overall, Yahoo!'s unique users have risen 24% to 429 million. Its fastest-growing subset of users are paying subscribers, which have risen 50% to 12.6 million on a year-over-year basis. Look for Yahoo! to find more ways to generate fee-based revenue in addition to its search advertising-related revenues. True, 87% of Yahoo!'s revenues do come from marketing-related services, but there is great opportunity for the company to diversify more fully into premium offerings for its users. When the Internet search market gets a bit less frothy than it is today, the fact that Yahoo! has diversified its revenue streams could be awfully appealing. (Google derives 99% of its revenues from one source, advertising.) I mean, anybody remember the recession, when advertising dropped precipitously? The good times don't last forever.

Meanwhile, it seems quite possible that people have overestimated Google's growth potential while underestimating Yahoo!'s. Although Google reported sales and earnings that were just about double those of Yahoo!, when you look at the estimated sales and earnings growth for these two companies for the next three years, the picture isn't all that divergent over the long term.

Estimated: YHOO Sales Growth GOOG Sales Growth YHOO EPS Growth GOOG Est. EPS Growth
12/2006 28.8% 56.7% 21.3% 54.9%
12/2007 24% 37.8% 28.3% 36%
12/2008 18.5% 21.8% 31.6% 26.3%
Data supplied by Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.

Sorry, Rick. I can't agree that Yahoo! should give up its trademark exclamation point just yet. Google's just keeping it on its toes -- and in the long run, Yahoo! investors will quite likely have something to shout about.

Think you're done with the Duel? You're not! Go back and read the other three arguments, and then vote for a winner.

Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned. The Fool has a disclosure policy.