In an interesting turn of events – especially considering all of the antitrust hot water in which Microsoft has found itself in the past with the Federal government – Google is suing the Federal government for requiring that any vendor proposals in response to a Request for Quotation (RFQ – similar to an RFP, or Request for Proposal) by the Feds to create a new, unified online messaging system, must include the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite.

Microsoft has issued a security advisory (#981374) for a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6 (IE 6) and Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) that could allow someone to remotely execute code on your PC – that is, to remotely operate your computer.

Microsoft has just announced an emergency patch for both Internet Explorer (IE) and Office Products, and it is recommended that everyone install this patch ASAP (link to patch included below). This affects Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) as well as any Microsoft Office Product with ActiveX, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Microsoft Access.

In a move sure to have Microsoft’s legal eagles tearing their hair out, Microsoft Partner Group Manager Simon Aldous, during an interview with Britain’s Intent Media’s PCR publication, acknowledged that Microsoft has been aiming to “create a Mac look and feel.”

The City of Los Angeles will be paying Google $7 million to allow the city to move email hosting for all 30,000 of Los Angeles city workers to Gmail. That’s right – what tens of millions get for free, Los Angeles will be paying a cool seven million for. Of course presumably by paying for Gmail premium, they will be getting a few other services, like the ability to call in for tech support during normail business hours.

Call us crazy, but here’s our theory about the week-long Sidekick data outage experienced by Sidekick users as their Sidekick network (really the Danger network) went down.

Microsoft announced some time ago that it was going to set up Microsoft stores, similar to Apple’s highly successful Apple store. But it seems that Microsoft doesn’t think that imitation is the only form of flattery. Apparently actually poaching Apple’s employees to run the new Microsoft stores is right up there too.

Microsoft has announced the new HD Zune (“Zune HD”), which features HD video (along the lines of high definition TV (HDTV)), as well as HD radio. In the portable MP3 player wars, this leapfrogs the Zune ahead of the iPod Touch, with the Microsoft Zune being the first to market with HD video and the first to market with one of the first portable HD radio receivers anywhere.

Perhaps you’ve heard about Microsoft’s WIndows Live new “Family Safety” software, which you can install on your Windows computer, so that your children can safely surf the web without fear of exposure to material that is not family friendly – or ‘family safe’. Apparently in Microsoft’s view this includes competitor Google, although oddly it does not include their own similar search engine, Live.com.

Countless Microsoft Windows Live Instant Messenger users recieved a message yesterday – a legitimate, genuine message from “messenger@microsoft.com” – telling them that they needed to change their email address in order to continue using the Windows Live service. The problem was, while it was a real message from Microsoft, it was sent accidentally, and was not true.

The Conficker worm or Conficker virus (also known as Downadup or W32/Downadup), which has been in the news a lot lately, is currently estimated to have infected more than 9 million Windows computers the world over, and continues to spread at an alarming rate. With a $250,000 bounty on its head offered by Microsoft, and set to activate on April 1st, nobody yet knows what the millions of PCs infected by the Conficker worm will be ordered to do, but it’s a sure bet that if and when it happens, it will be nasty. Fortunately there are ways to combat it and even a free Conficker removal tool.

While a Microsoft Zune Phone has been rumoured for months, no less a reliable source than Barrons says that a Zune Phone will be out by the first week of January. The Zune Phone, rumoured to be the industry-whispered “Project Pink”, will be unveiled at CES, say industry insiders.

As if president elect Obama doesn’t have enough to worry about with all the buzz over his Blackberry – and will he or won’t he get to take it to the White House with him – now folks all across the Internet are screaming because Obama was seen with – gasp – a Microsoft Zune MP3 player, instead of an iPod. Welcome to Zunegate.

A bizarre spam making the rounds in the form of a chain email claims that MSN Hotmail is running out of account names “because too many inconsiderate people are taking up all the names”. The email starts out by saying “Hey it is tara and john the directors of MSN, sorry for the interruption but msn is closing down.” (It isn’t.)

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have all signed on to the Global Initiative Network, pledging to protect the privacy of their users around the world, including – perhaps particularly – users in countries such as China, where demands that ISPs rat out their users are routinely made.