Many have been waited with bated breath for an upcoming Apple tablet that been strongly rumored for early in 2010. Of course, we haven't even seen that device. On the other hand, we've now seen images and video of a Microsoft tablet-style PC called the Microsoft Courier that might actually excite people (I know that's hard to believe).

Zune 4.0 software is now available for free download.

Tuesday was a busy day for Microsoft in the courts. At the end of day, the software giant was facing two new patent infringement lawsuits.

After 1 1/2 years of negotiation, which all began with a $44.6 billion bid by Microsoft for Yahoo!, the two companies have come to a more limited agreement, one involving their search businesses only.

On Wednesday July 22 2009, Microsoft officially announced (on the Windows 7 Team blog) that they have reached the RTM (release to manufacturing) milestone with Windows 7. This means that the OS will soon be available to Microsoft partners and vendors for pre-sale preparation but the official launch (aka GA or General Availability) for Windows 7 is still scheduled for October 22nd.

We knew earlier that Microsoft and Yahoo! were talking again, and now reports indicate that a deal is all but done. On the other hand, the companies have been oh-so-close to a deal before, and until the pen is placed to the paper, the deal can still fall apart.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is likely downing a ton of aspirin this morning, as Google has announced that it is developing a PC operating system based on its Chrome browser. Unlike Microsoft's current OS (Vista) and upcoming one (7), it will be all shiny and new (like Chrome!), not full of legacy code.

Microsoft on Thursday finally dished on upgrade options for Windows 7, international availability on launch day (Oct. 22) and pricing. It's hard to say which one is more important to me, 1) or 3), but in this economy, I'd go with 3).

Microsoft recently launched a re-branded version of its Live search engine called Bing. Bing is being called a “decision engine” and promises a host of new features to help people “make faster, more informed decisions”. Along with the launch of this new service, Microsoft is rolling out a $100 million dollar marketing campaign to get people to adopt its new service.

Earlier, Acer told us that Windows 7 would be available on its new all-in-one Z5600 PC starting on October 23, 2009. Later, Microsoft told us we'd get Windows 7 "by the holidays." On Tuesday, Microsoft officially announced the date: October 22nd.

On Thursday, Microsoft unveiled Bing, which we all knew was coming and was the new name for its long-rumored Kumo search engine revamp. Moreover, it's not just a search engine. Nope, it's a decision engine, and Microsoft also states that Bing is a new brand, as well.