Microsoft

Step away from the controller. Microsoft this week is unveiling a set of video games that don't require people to navigate their way around a complex controller with more buttons than the cockpit of a Boeing 747. Following on the massive success of Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft is introducing a technology, code-named Project Natal, that ditches the controller altogether. Instead, the games will rely on a device the size of a stapler that perches on top of a living room TV to recognize faces, obey voice commands and track body movements.

Microsoft Corp. is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo Inc., Chief Executive Steve Ballmer repeated, though he told shareholders that the company would still be "very open" to a collaboration on Internet search. His comments sent Yahoo shares down nearly 21%. "Let me be clear," Ballmer said at Microsoft's annual shareholder meeting. "We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo." Yahoo shares plummeted $2.41, or 20.9%, to $9.14, well below the $33 a share that Microsoft offered in May. Microsoft shares tumbled $1.33, or 6.8%, to $18.29.

Microsoft Corp. unveiled a program called Windows Azure that stores and runs customers' data and programs in its computer-server farms, stepping up competition with Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. in software that is delivered over the Internet. Windows Azure makes it easier and cheaper for clients to manage their programs, Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie said at a conference in Los Angeles.

Microsoft Corp. must pay $368 million to Alcatel-Lucent, the world's largest supplier of telecommunications equipment, after a jury found Alcatel's patents were infringed. Alcatel-Lucent had asked for about $1.75 billion from Microsoft and Dell Inc. after claiming that four of its patents were violated. The verdict was handed up by a federal court jury in San Diego.

A U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles has ruled that Microsoft Corp. will have to pay Alcatel-Lucent more than $500 million for infringing two patents. One patent covers how software users fill out forms. The other is related to using a stylus on a tablet computer. Judge Marilyn L. Huff denied Microsoft's request to reconsider the jury's decision.

A small Chinese high-tech firm is suing Microsoft Corp., saying the software giant has stolen its creation that allows Internet users to type Chinese characters. The lawsuit puts Microsoft, which countered the claim, in the unfamiliar position of defending its intellectual property practices in China after years of fighting piracy of its software there. Zhongyi Electronic Ltd., a 100-employee firm, alleged that Microsoft has used its inputting technology and fonts in Windows operating systems without commercial agreement for a decade, the official New China News Agency reported.

"Microsoft Plans Stealth Media Blitz" (April 10) gives an inaccurate account of our efforts to counter the anti-Microsoft campaign underway by a coalition of competitor companies. At Microsoft, we are standing up for the freedom of every company to innovate and constantly improve its products for consumers. Our competitors, meanwhile, are waging a sophisticated PR and lobbying campaign for dangerous and unprecedented government regulation of America's most dynamic and competitive industry.

Microsoft Corp. was criticized by David Boies for a newspaper ad that he felt attempted to undermine the government's antitrust case against the company ["Lead U.S. Attorney Blasts Microsoft Newspaper Ad," Dec. 1]. It was an advertisement! I'm sure that other companies trying to promote their businesses do not spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to talk about the problems they are facing in court. They are only trying to sell their products. So what's the big deal? MELANIE A. BAKER La Mirada

Re "The Right Microsoft Rx," editorial, June 25: Utopian optimism is alive and well! To believe that a brigade of Justice Department antitrust lawyers will get us better and cheaper software is beyond irrational. This Microsoft trial is one of the great farces of the century. Cheaper and better software will come only when the next small group of brilliant software inventors and entrepreneurs arrives on the scene. That we pay taxes to cover the cost of this obscene drama is depressing.

"Antitrust in World of Cyberspace: New Rules of the Game" (Oct. 23) is informative but does not go deep enough. Competitors are even afraid to criticize openly in order to avoid retaliation. Bill Gates and his underlings glory in their predatory strategy. What bothers me is that the "free press" does not launch an in-depth investigation of Microsoft's practices and reveal the company to be what any person knowledgeable in the field recognizes: a monopoly that does not hesitate to use all the dirty tricks.