What could be more insincere than a bunch of marketing types concocting a fake blog to pimp their company's services by hitching them to worthy causes?

This could - getting a bunch of marketing people who specialize in nothing but pimping other people's products and services to do it for you. And then targeting kids and teens.

An open standards row is brewing between the EC and a lobbying group for software multinationals over a proposed European framework on interoperability – a draft of which is due to be published on 15 July.

During its trumpeted webcast on plans for BEA Systems, Oracle's top brass stressed their commitment to middleware to keep the new flock happy. So it purchased BEA to expand Oracle's presence in Asia and Japan - that wasn't the point.

Comment There's no such thing as a coincidence or a missed opportunity in the world of Microsoft, and this is no ordinary week.

The CEO of Linux distributor Linspire has confirmed that rival desktop Linux maker Xandros Inc has acquired the firm.

The International Standardisation Organisation has ratified Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) as an official international standard, though it won't make PDF documents load any faster.

The Mozilla Foundation has officially set a previously non-existent Guinness World Record for the largest number of software downloads in a day.

Moody's, the ratings agency, is reviewing its computer models and setting up a central monitoring system after admitting that a bug led it to incorrectly grade several European mortgage debt instruments.

Parallels is giving some delayed attention to Hewlett-Packard's Integrity servers today.

Microsoft has tied up with ailing US retailer Circuit City to launch its Office and security subscription service which hits the market bearing the moniker "Equipt".

Microsoft yesterday announced that it has revised its volume licensing agreements – effectively shackling its mid-size and large business customers to lengthy new contracts.

A little-known open-source project became the subject of intense interest recently, following a session at Apple's developer conference in San Francisco, California. That project? SproutCore.

Red Hat is inching closer to delivery of the long-awaited JBoss Application Server 5.0, but there's still no final release date.

In Oracle's world nothing changes, everything stays the same and no products ever die. Except those things that get "converged" or downgraded.

Desktop Linux maker Xandros is understood to be in the process of buying Linux distributor Linspire.

Microsoft, in its latest attempt to play nice with pesky EU regulators, has published protocol documentation for its Office 2007, SharePoint 2007, and Exchange Server 2007 products.

Apple has coughed up 25 security updates that come bundled with yesterday's release of Mac OS X 10.5.4.

Adobe Systems is working with Google and Yahoo! to improve the accuracy of searches for Flash ads and media by delivering an optimized version of its ubiquitous player.

Project Kangaroo, the commercial on-demand web TV service being developed by BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, will be investigated by the Competition Commission amid concern that it could stifle rival online efforts.

This week marks another first in the 33-year history of Microsoft - life without Billg. The company and the man who co-founded it and rose to become the world's richest geek have parted ways. Bill Gates is no longer chief software architect and will be checking in only as company chairman.