Stories by: Julie Bort

Pirated software saves its users in developing countries more than $2.9 billion annually. So finds a study of manufacturers in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific commissioned by Microsoft.

While the world has been distracted by HP's baffling $10.2 billion purchase of Autonomy and Microsoft's surprising $9 billion buy of Skype, EMC/VMware and Google have been snapping up dozens of software companies throughout 2011.

Debate rages among IT professionals over the value of certifications, but a survey of 700 network professionals jointly conducted by Network World and SolarWinds may help put that argument to rest. Among those who earned certifications, most saw a significant boost in their careers as a result.

Barnes & Noble has subpoenaed Nokia and its patent-enforcement agency, Mosaid Technologies, as it defends itself against Microsoft's Android patent infringement lawsuit, according to documents filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Microsoft has been pressuring Huawei to sign a patent license agreement to cover Android, according to Huawei Device Chief Marketing Officer Victor Xu. Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble has asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether Microsoft's use of its patent portfolio amounts to antitrust violations.

Microsoft today released four patches as part of its regularly scheduled patch cycle, including a critical fix to a flaw that could allow attackers to launch a dangerous worm.

Seven ISVs have formed a consortium to integrate their Google Apps add-on products and offer discounted bundles, outside of Google's control.

Microsoft has released a Fix-it tool to allow Windows users to manually patch their systems to thwart the Duqu Trojan: Microsoft Security Advisory (2639658).

The big zero-day exploit on everyone's mind is Duqu, or "son of Stuxnet" - but researchers don't expect Microsoft to include a patch for it in next week's Patch Tuesday. Instead, a manual fix could be out as soon as this week.

Microsoft has rolled out a new mobile app for Bing built with HTML5 and available first only to iPhone and Android users, not to Windows Phone users. It may be another indication that Microsoft is turning its attention away from its home-baked development platforms .Net and Silverlight and toward the industry-standard HTML5.