The XP alternative for Vista PCs, Sep 22, 2007

While Microsoft is still pushing Vista hard, the company is quietly allowing PC makers to offer a "downgrade" option to buyers that get machines with the new operating system but want to switch to Windows XP.

Gates: Well, let's distinguish: let's talk about free software. Free software has always been an important part of the software world, just like commercial software has been.

Microsoft plans to announce on Tuesday that it has been granted its 5,000th U.S. patent

The U.S. Patent Office has rejected two Microsoft patents over the FAT file format, but the software maker said Wednesday that it's not ready to give up its battle to protect its widely used method for storing data.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to "kill" Google in an expletitive-laced, chair-throwing tirade when a senior engineer told him he was leaving the company to go work for Google, the engineer claimed in court documents made public on Friday.

Microsoft also is adding support for Linux, following through on a pledge CEO Steve Ballmer made in April. Linux and other non-Windows operating systems already work with Virtual Server, but Microsoft has not offered support for any problems that customers might encounter with other OSes.

When Apple Computer announced in June that it planned to move to Intel chips, one of the companies left in the lurch was Terra Soft Solutions.

As Microsoft's director of platform technology strategy, Bill Hilf spends half his time trying to figure out ways Windows can work better with Linux and the other half trying to outflank the open-source rival.

A 2002 e-mail suggests that an investigation commissioned by The SCO Group failed to produce any evidence that Linux contained copyrighted Unix code.

The software leviathan is making changes to its virtualisation and systems-management software lines that should allow them to work better with Linux

Microsoft said late Tuesday that it has pushed back the expected launch of a version of Windows designed for high-performance computer clusters.

The company plans to make indemnity a new plank in its "Get the Facts" campaign, which touts the advantages of Windows over Linux.

Microsoft is to dip a third toe into the open-source waters, adding a collaborative creation program to the list of Microsoft efforts that the company is freely sharing.

The company is making available the code for FlexWiki, software for creating "Wikis" web pages designed to cover a topic by allowing any number of users to create and edit content.

Although iTunes and Linux have been pursuing solo careers, one small software maker hopes to get them to make music together.

CodeWeavers, which specializes in software that lets Windows programs run on Linux, said on Monday that it has a new version of its software that adds support for Apple Computer's iTunes.

Update: Wed Sep 24 15:57:02 UTC

SCO has released a press statement alleging that HP's actions prove that Linux "is not free". The CNET story we link to has been updated to reflect these developments.

Hewlett-Packard plans to announce Wednesday that it will indemnify its Linux customers against potential legal actions by SCO Group.

A company that specializes in running Linux on Macs said Wednesday that it has landed a deal to supply the U.S. Navy with 260 Apple Xserve servers.

Terra Soft Solutions said the machines will be used as part of a sonar imaging system that defense contractor Lockheed Martin is building for the Navy. Rather than using the Mac OS, the Apple servers will run Terra Soft's Yellow Dog Linux operating system. Terra Soft is one of a handful of Linux companies that is authorized to sell Apple gear.