What's at stake? Nothing less than the future. Microsoft wants computing to continue to be tied to the desktop—three screens and a cloud, as Ballmer is fond of saying. For Apple, it's all about closed information appliances with lots of third-party apps, computers anybody can use. And for Google, all roads lead to the internet, and the internet is synonymous with Google.

a group that includes Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and academic and human rights organizations, endorsed a code of ethics last year that commits companies to "respect, protect and advance user rights to freedom of expression and privacy". Organizers hope to recruit other companies, such as Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard http://www.globalnetworkinitiative.org/

Microsoft says that it will "completely transform how people think about home entertainment" at this year's E3. A newly rumored motion controller that detects "full body" movement may be what the company has planned.

Microsoft gives gamers the chance to become game creators.