Microsoft still dominates the desktop. Thus, it is still one of the world's most powerful companies, but a close reading of Microsoft's annual report reveals that all is not well in Redmond. Why, because Gen Y consumers have shown a greater willingness to try new technologies and services from companies other than Microsoft. Indeed, the likes of Facebook, Apple and Google have changed the way young people consume technology, says TechCrunch writer Dan Kimerling, "and that is a very dangerous position for a software company to be in, especially one that is not known for being nimble on its feet. …

Whither Skype, indeed. Almost a year ago, eBay, which bought Skype for more than $2.5 billion in 2005, was forced to concede that it overpaid for the Web telephony company by as much as $900 million. In an interview with BusinessWeek, defensive-sounding CEO Jonathan Silverman claims, "There is this perception gap related to eBay and what people thought eBay would do with Skype." In fact, there has been little to no relation between Skype's business of providing cheap and easy Web telephony tools, and eBay's core business of connecting buyers and merchants through an auction system. As writer Catherine Holahan …

Under pressure from the European Union Commission, Google earlier this week trimmed its retention policy for storing IP addresses from 18 months to nine. Last year, the Web giant implemented an 18-month cycle for IP anonymization to comply with EU demands; the latest move seems to be similarly motivated, Ars Technica reports. In conjunction with the policy change, Google submitted an open letter to the European Commission's Article 29 working group detailing the company's reasons for retaining log data. Among them: logs help combat click fraud and "search poisoning", protecting users and improving the overall quality of search results. Google …

As expected, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will launch an investigation into the precipitous drop of United Airlines' shares on Monday after a story from 2002 detailing the company's bankruptcy was republished on the Web site of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and then picked up and disseminated by Google News. This sent UAL Corp. stock down more than 75%. Trading was later halted after it emerged that the story was six years old, and that United had not filed for bankruptcy for a second time. Its stock has since recovered. "Anytime anyone spreads false information about a public …

Yahoo has seen the future, and the future is, unsurprisingly, "open." On Thursday, Yahoo officials detailed plans for the Yahoo Open Strategy, demonstrating how its new development platform allows content and services providers to distribute their products on the company's sites. Ash Patel, Yahoo's head of audience products, demonstrated a new Netflix application allowing Yahoo users to engage with its video rental store on Yahoo's home page, search, and Web mail. The app showed Patel the movies he has ordered, along with his current wish list, which he could add to, and recommendations. "Yahoo allows developers to create applications for …

Ready or not, Facebook is undergoing a massive redesign. By the end of the week, the social network's 100 million-plus users will be forced to adapt to a new-look Facebook. For the last seven weeks, the company allowed its users to switch back and forth from the old to the new format. That option is now being taken away. In an interview with The Associated Press, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledges the risks behind the makeover, which include alienating some of its audience. This, in turn, could help drive traffic to rivals like MySpace and Bebo. "Any change …