Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype,announcedback in May, still isn’t complete but today it passed another hurdle as EU officials cleared it for take-off. After the U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently approved the $8.5 Billion deal, European Union Competition Commission today gave their blessing,as Forbes reports. While that doesn’t quite mean the deal is wrapped up, it’s another milestone along the way to the household name of the VoIP industry becoming part of the Redmond tech giant....

Microsoft has given us some more details today, from the Mix ’11 conference, about what it’s planning to do with the forthcoming Kinect SDK’s. Yes, note that I used that as a plural. If you’ve been waiting for the SDK to build a Windows app with the Kinect sensor, well, you’re still waiting. The plan is to roll out the academics/hobbyist version of the development kit sometime in the spring. The same holds true for the commercial version, which should be on its way, though we don’t have a timeframe just yet....

Microsoft in the past was not always the most kind towards people tinkering with its products. That has changed, and the company now usually turns a blind eye to those tweaking, shaving, and hacking with its hardware and software. That perspective was evident today as the companytold AllThingsDthe following about people who were porting Mango to older Windows Mobile hardware: “We say tinker away with Mango and enjoy the juice. But beware the fine print — unlocking phones may void your warranty....

To “kick off” Macworld this year, Microsoft is handing outfree 30 day trials of Office 2011to everyone who owns a Mac that can handle the software. In its announcement of the trial giveaway, Microsoft credited the following new features as the most enticing in the 2011 version of the famous productivity suite:“Outlook for Mac, new co-authoring tools, Excel’s Sparklines, [and] Dynamic Reorder in Word & PowerPoint.” I am a loyal user and lover of the 2010 edition of Office for PC, and can safely say that if the jump from Office 2008 to 2011 for Mac users is as big as the leap from Office 2007 to 2010 was for PC owners, they are in for a treat....

TNW Quick Hit: Are you a developer who knows iOS like the back of your hand? Microsoft wants you to come and develop for its Windows Phone 7 platform, and to make that possible has released aslew of new toolsand resources to help with the conversion process. The company is nigh desperate to continue the development momentum that it has managed to foster thus far in the life of WP7....