Another Pat on the Back for Microsoft

I have become uncharacteristically chummy towards Microsoft lately with kind words about Jerry Fishenden's speech on ID cards ("Microsoft's Jerry Fishenden condemns ID Card Plans" 21 Oct 2005). I am going to be nice to them again following a report on today's BBC website that "Microsoft has joined a Yahoo-backed effort to digitize the world's books and other works to make them searchable and accessible to anyone online." Apparently, they are going to start with works already in the public domain to avoid the legal challenge to a similar effort by Google.

If Microsoft does what it says it will do, I may even consider upgrading my operating system and Office applications when the new versions come out.

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