Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang today promised the world 500 to 700 engineers will complete Yahoo's brand advertising platform by the third quarter. The announcement was Yahoo's second public response today to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer threat to lower Microsoft's bid for Yahoo over the weekend. According to the clip above, the platform — once called Project Apex, now dubbed AMP — is supposed to provide the technology for publishers to sell their own display, search, mobile and video ads through a Yahoo marketplace. Problem is Apex/AMP is not near completion, commenters on our post "Employee: Yahoo is a mess inside," tell us.

"Apex is indeed a mess," writes commenter DeanMartin. "The release timelines are ridiculously optimistic for a system of its magnitude/complexity." Another commenter blames management: "Apex is being run by the very same morons in Burbank who claim Panama is a huge success."Commenter Groovy Gnome blames the MBAs, too:

The number one cause of the mess: No project management skills to be seen all around. No accountability. I think all the managers there need to go back to school and really learn what it takes to lead a project of this scale.