Silicon Alley Insider - Henry Blodget | October 16, 2008 1:04 PM

*UPDATE: An hour later, Microsoft corporate is frantically backtracking:

“Our position hasn’t changed. Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo; there are no discussions between the companies.”

When we followed up on this, a Microsoft source explained that Steve made the “deal still makes sense” remark while deep in a discussion with Gartner Group analysts (”Response to a question opened up some questions.”) Our take, therefore, is that Steve Ballmer just inadvertently revealed HIS OWN attitude toward a Yahoo deal, not Microsoft’s official one. But given that Steve is Microsoft’s CEO, it’s his own attitude that matters.

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Silicon Alley Insider - Peter Kafka | October 14, 2008 12:46 PM

It’s possible that Gizmodo got hoaxed here, and that they really don’t have possession of a ham-handed spin memo from Microsoft. But if they’re right, this is way more embarassing than those Seinfeld/Gates ads (which really weren’t that bad): An attempt to convince tech writers that there is NOTHING TO SEE today at Apple’s laptop event. Gizmodo does a nice job of explaining what the Redmond crew is thinking here, but still:

The company addresses the various rumors about today’s new MacBooks, preemptively claiming that they will be overpriced, underspec’d and locked down. They offer charts comparing the feature lists of similarly priced Windows and Mac notebooks and make numerous accusations of an “Apple Tax.” The email is interesting: nothing they say is incorrect, but none of it is new. Most importantly, all of it misses the point completely.

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Silicon Alley Insider - Henry Blodget | October 14, 2008 10:26 AM

courtesy of epicycle.org.uk

The Google-Yahoo search partnership is getting neutered by the Justice Department. If the current “compromises” are adopted, the deal will be worth far less to Yahoo, Yahoo shareholders, and Google, which is one reason Yahoo’s stock is taking it on the chin.

Who is responsible for the search deal getting bogged down? In all likelihood…Microsoft.  Redmond’s lobbying army got the Google-DoubleClick deal delayed for damn near eternity, and we imagine that it is now putting the fear of God into the advertising industry and Justice Department. Think of this as Chinese water torture payback for the Google-Yahoo collusion during the Microsoft-Yahoo takeover dance.
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IHT - Bloomberg News Published: September 19, 2008

TOKYO: The Fair Trade Commission in Japan told Microsoft on Friday to void clauses that it said violated antimonopoly law in contracts with Japanese personal computer makers.

Microsoft had contracts with Japanese PC makers with clauses that blocked them from taking legal action over patents involving the Windows operating system, the commission said in a statement dated yesterday, citing a Sept. 16 ruling.

The decision relates to a case going back more than four years. On July 13, 2004, the FTC told Microsoft to remove the anti-lawsuit clauses. The company, based in Redmond, Washington, excluded the conditions from new contracts effective Aug. 1 of that year. Clauses in contracts concluded before the watchdog’s order are still in force, the commission’s statement said.

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BUSINESSWEEK -Brand New Day

Posted by: David Kiley on August 21

When Jerry Seinfeld starts appearing in Microsoft Windows ads, will the fact that he always had a Mac on his desk during the iconic TV series figure into the work created by Miami ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky?

As reported by The Wall Street Journal today, Microsoft, frustrated that its Vista operating system becomes less and less attractive with each passing week, is turning to an ad strategy that will feature the uber-successful comedian Seinfeld, and even company founder Bill Gates.

It’s difficult, and unfair, to pass an opinion on ads I haven’t seen yet. But, going in, I’m suspicious of the strategy of using Seinfeld, 54, to attract new users and would-be Mac users to Vista and thus PCs.

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Sillicon Alley Insider - Vasanth Sridharan | August 22, 2008 2:28 PM

Have you ever been pissed that your Page Up button didn’t go up an actual physical page (instead of just going up one screen)? If you have, then you’ll be happy that Microsoft (MSFT) put three engineers to work solving that problem and now they’ve been granted a patent. From the description of the patent (from halfabee.com, via techdirt):
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