Stories by: Elizabeth Montalbano

Microsoft is finally adding support for ODF (OpenDocument Format for Office Applications) and Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) to its Office productivity suite, the company announced on Wednesday.

The latest service pack for Windows XP continues to cause problems for users. According to an online user forum, the latest glitch in Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) causes problems with the remote desktop access feature of Windows Home Server.

In its continued attempt to convince business customers to adopt Vista, Microsoft has outlined and tried to explain some of what it calls the OS's most "misunderstood" features in a document posted to -- then mysteriously removed from -- its Web site this week.

Microsoft is appealing the US$1.3 billion (Euro 899 million) fine imposed on it by the European Union for failing to honor a 2004 antitrust agreement, the company said Friday.

Comments by CEO, Jerry Yang, and president, Sue Decker - pressured by a sliding stock price and grumbling shareholders - seem to indicate Yahoo may be willing to return to the bargaining table to make the deal happen while their seats are still warm.

Microsoft continues to eat its own dog food to promote the adoption of its Silverlight technology.

The deadline Microsoft gave Yahoo for making a deal or facing a proxy fight came and went this weekend without a word from either party. But even if Microsoft doesn't succeed now in its bid for Yahoo, the company made clear last week, both in private meetings with reporters and in public comments, that it's determined - come hell or high water - to move forward with its services strategy.

Microsoft should consider putting its search-advertising endeavors on the back burner for now and attempt an end run at Google by trying to become a leader in the display-, video- and mobile-advertising markets, where no company is a clear leader yet.

Adobe launched a new community development project on Thursday aimed at using its Flash and AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) technologies to create a consistent application interface across all devices -- whether they are smartphones, PCs or set-top boxes.

Microsoft has delayed the release of a third service pack for Windows XP, blaming a "compatibility issue" between the software and a retail-chain-management application.

Windows Vista customers can now receive the first service pack for the operating system via the Microsoft Automatic Update service, Microsoft said this week.