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A mouse is a mouse, right? You move it, it moves a thingy on the screen, it’s as simple as that. Well not when you’re a hardcore PC gamer it’s not. For these guys, a mouse is a precision tool that needs to react exactly how and when you want it to, or be laughed to the bottom of every scoreboard in town.

And you’re not going to get much more precise than the Sidewinder mouse from Microsoft: a resolution of up to 2000dpi (not that you’ll need it) and interchangeable teflon feet for a smoother glide. You can even swtich cursor speeds live in any game with three adjustable buttons on the top, insert small weights into the body of the mouse to alter momentum, and reprogram all the buttons. It all sounds pretty ridiculous, but you just can’t scoff at this array of options.

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Microsoft Corp asked software developers to “bet on us” as it began making test versions available of Internet Explorer 8, an upgraded version of the main software used to browse the Web.At Microsoft’s MIX08 conference on Wednesday, the company’s chief software architect, Ray Ozzie, said the Web was at the center of everything Microsoft was doing as it seeks to expand beyond the desktop business it dominates.

“I know today that you have many amazing technology choices available to you, but I’d like you to bet on us,” Ozzie told an audience of Web developers.

Microsoft has been pushing for a “software plus services” strategy that uses the Internet to augment traditional software that runs on a computer’s hard drive.

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As it scrambles to avoid defeat in its battle with Microsoft, Yahoo may try to put a little more time on the clock.

Microsoft, whose offer for Yahoo is now worth $41.2 billion, was preparing to escalate its takeover fight by starting a proxy contest next week. But in an effort to delay that move, Yahoo is considering several options, including a plan to postpone its annual meeting, people close to the company said on Tuesday.

The maneuver comes as Yahoo has stepped up merger and joint venture talks with AOL, a unit of Time Warner, these people said.

Microsoft had been preparing to nominate a slate of directors to the board of Yahoo by next Thursday, the deadline for mounting a proxy contest. If Yahoo moves back that deadline back or postpones its meeting, something it could announce as early as this week, the company could buy time to seek out and evaluating alternatives.
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What investors want to know about Microsoft and Yahoo these days is this: Are they, or aren’t they? Talking to each other about Microsoft’s $40 billion-plus takeover offer, that is.

Don’t expect enlightenment from the chatty executive ranks at Microsoft, who have made public statements galore even though, sadly for newshounds, their accounts of talks (or nontalks) appear to conflict.

CEO Steve Ballmer, a man who should know, said of the deal at a German technology conference, “There’s been a range of dialogue and there’s a range of alternatives being considered.” Then, after that shocker, he demurred, “I think it’s best for me not to get into the detail.”

Last Friday, Jean-Philippe Courtois, who heads the company’s international operations, said to an Agence France Press reporter that Microsoft and Yahoo are having “a very close dialogue.”
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Microsoft’s Silverlight browser plug-in will be bringing videos and other rich media to Nokia smartphones later this year.

The two companies on Tuesday at Microsoft’s Mix ‘08 conference are scheduled to announce that Microsoft will write a version of Silverlight for Nokia’s Series 60 (S60) smartphone software that runs on Symbian OS. The software, which will be available later this year, will also run on Series 40 devices and Nokia Internet tablets.

For people with compatible devices, it means they will be able to see content, notably video, written for Silverlight, which Microsoft is pushing as an alternative to Adobe’s Flash Player. Microsoft has been signing on content partners to use Silverlight for media streaming, including MLB.com and online Olympic games broadcasting with NBC.

For Microsoft, the deal with Nokia is a step in its pledge to make Silverlight “ubiquitous,” that is, capable of running on multiple operating systems.

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