On April 18, 2007, Microsoft and Samsung announced a broad patent agreement , covering hardware and software products,
including Linux, and states that the deal is expected to accelerate product development for both companies.  Apparently a similar deal was closed with Fujitu-Xerox.   read more »

UPDATE: Microsoft has announced the acquisition this morning (March 14). 

The Wall Street Journal refreshed the rumor mill today that Microsoft was once again approaching TellMe. This iteration of the rumor mill puts an $800 million price tag on TellMe's book of business.  read more »

OpenID, the most visible of the new identity management schemas - and CardSpace, Microsoft's browser based initiative to help users control and protect their identity online have decided to play nicely together in the User-Centric Identity space. The press release is here .

A team consisting of Microsoft, VeriSign, Sxip and JanRain has been assembled to implement the new interoperability model.  read more »

According to a recent article in Information Week the speech recognition feature in Microsoft's new OS, Windows Vista, contains a major security flaw. Apparently, pranksters were able to execute commands on a PC from a remote location through the use of audio files hosted on a website. For example, the audio file can say shut down, copy and delete and these commands were executed by the PC. There were even some reports that a person was able to create a recording that downloaded and executed a file from the Internet. Now that can be scary!  read more »