Deal should give Microsoft leverage against Google and others that are attacking its Office business with free or low-priced, Web-based productivity apps

Judge in patent infringement case says Microsoft can't sell Word if it allows custom XML tagging, but legal appeals or work-arounds mean the ruling is unlikely to affect anyone any time soon

A software wrapper to make it easier to do Bing searches from the iPhone apps deck is in development

Sites like Facebook are attracting lots of attention, making search engine optimization more difficult

A lack of real innovation points to a company in decline, beset by Sun, Microsoft, and other 'vanquished' rivals