Microsoft looks to be facing yet another antitrust probe afterit emergedon Tuesday that Spain’s competition watchdog, the National Competition Commission, has opened a case against Microsoft’s local and Irish units over allegations that the company had blocked the sale of Microsoft software licenses by third parties. The National Competition Commission made the announcement in a press release, noting that the investigation was launched after collecting information that could indicate a potential violation of competition regulations....

By now everyone has seen the video of Microsoft’s CEO Steven Ballmer shouting the word ‘developer!’ at the top of his voiceover, and over again. Microsoft is now repeating that cry, but in a different tone, and to individuals instead of packed conference rooms. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 team is waging a war to bring development talent to the platform, knowing full well that a mobile line in today’s world without a strong developer community is moot....

Microsoft has alleged to the FTC that Google has illegally changed its advertising rates for the Redmond-based company. According to the complaint, Google raised the prices that Microsoft was paying for ads alongside queries such as ‘hotmail’ by 50 fold. A click went from costing 10 cents, to some $5. If Google changed that price in an anti-competitive way, the company could land in hot water. Given Google’s sheer dominance in search, the company cannot afford to be caught biasing results in its own favor, or using its platform and its mechanics to exclude competition....

In a move that will surely raise eyebrows around the world of technology, Microsoft has allegedly fired two of its employees due to their role in leaks relating to Windows 8, the company’s upcoming operating system. The information first came to light on theMDL forumsfrom its noted user ‘Canouna,’ and was thenpicked up by other publicationsthat track Microsoft carefully. In response to the use of his name, Canounahas protested, preferring to remain (belatedly) anonymous....

Microsoft announced at a joint event in Beijing that it has entered into an agreement with the Chinese company China Standard Software Co., Ltd. to “develop, market and sell solutions for the booming cloud-computing market in China”,according to the joint press release. China Standard Software was founded in 2003 and “specializes in the R&D, promotion and service of system software products”, according tothe company’s website. Based in Shanghai, the company currently provides Linux-based solutions within China under its NeoShine, NeoKylin, and NeoLite brands....