A small but vocal minority on Flickr are already staging online protests at the prospect of a Microsoft takeover. Flickr is one of several popular Web 2.0 websites owned by Yahoo that loyal users fear will suffer under Microsoft ownership.

As soon as the news hit the wires that Microsoft is proposing a $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo, Flickr users began posting anti-Microsoft images, satirical “Flickr Live” logos and announcing they will abandon Flickr if it falls into Microsoft hands, fearing such a move would mark the beginning of the end.

In light of this, I’ve decided to post a collection of the rebellious images here. Each image links to the actual image page on Flickr.

View others from the Flickr Tag: Microsoft

The latest weapon is a video that is shot along the idea of “we are the world”, bringing internet hot shots such as Ask a Ninja and Tay Zonday (Remember Chocolate Rain?), among many others in for the production.

I think it’s *possible* that Microsoft could lob a lawsuit into the courts over the fake statistics, unless somehow it’s spun as a parody of sorts. Which, is what it appears to be.

But unlike others, I think a lawsuit will bring HUGE attention to Firefox and it will just continue to grow.

By the way… I pulled together stats for ALL of the websites I’m involved in, which represents more than 140,000 unique visits per month, and we’re showing 40.9% use Firefox.