Barnes & Noble has filed an appeal with the U.S. International Trade Commission over a judge's decision last month to dismiss the bookseller's allegations that Microsoft engaged in anti-competitive practices by misusing its patents.

The move is part of an ongoing legal battle between Microsoft and Barnes & Noble over patents. The trial in the case began this week.

Microsoft asserts that the bookstore chain's Nook e-reader and Nook Color tablets, which run on Google's Android software, infringe on some of Microsoft's patents.

Barnes & Noble, in turn, had asked regulators to review whether Microsoft's patent-licensing agreements with makers of Android devices are anti-competitive.

Last month, an ITC administrative law judge had granted Microsoft's request to dismiss Barnes & Noble's patent-misuse allegations.

In Barnes & Noble's request -- filed Wednesday -- for a review of that decision, the bookseller said that the judge's decision had rested "on both erroneous conclusions of law and a misstatement of the facts."

Barnes & Noble's filing also claims that Microsoft "asserts that its patents cover every implementation of Android when in fact they do not" and that the software company "demands (under threat of litigation) that OEMs take a license from Microsoft that requires the OEMs to pay a hefty license fee to Microsoft for every Android device the OEMs sell regardless of whether those devices actually infringe any Microsoft patents."

Last week, Microsoft withdrew one of its patent claims against Barnes & Noble in the case, leaving three patents at issue in the trial that began this week. Those patents involve annotation software that allows readers to make notes on e-books separate from the book, software that allows people to select and make a text area larger or smaller, and technology that helps readers perceive faster browser downloads by displaying text first, then the background.

(This story is running in the print edition of The Seattle Times Feb. 10, 2012. - Janet I. Tu)

This ain't your father's Windows.

Though if you want to, you can still make that faster, sleeked-up new Windows look like the old one. Call it the morphing hybrid of operating systems -- Microsoft's bid to build a hybrid tablet/PC ecosystem.

That's the message Windows President Steven Sinofsky relayed in a blog post Thursday that offered details on what the upcoming Windows 8 will look like on devices -- mainly tablets -- running on ARM technology.

Microsoft is touting Windows 8 as a radical reimagining of the company's flagship operating system, which has, until now, run mainly on x86 processors in desktops and laptops. The beta version of Windows 8 -- officially called the Consumer Preview -- is scheduled for release Feb. 29.

What's different about Windows 8 is it's being designed, from the ground up, to operate as well on touch-sensitive tablets running on system-on-a-chip ARM processors as it does on those more conventional x86 PCs.

At least that's what Microsoft is promising.

But lack of concrete details has led to burning questions, such as whether there will be a way to interact with the traditional Windows desktop and components on ARM tablets, and whether legacy Windows applications will be able to run on them.

Sinofsky's lengthy and detailed blog post answered many of those questions.

Some highlights:

• There will be a Windows desktop and a way to interact with key Windows components on ARM-based tablets.

Out of the box, Windows on ARM (or WOA, as Sinofsky calls it) "will feel just like using Windows 8 on x86/64," Sinofsky wrote. "You will sign in the same way. You will start and launch apps the same way. ... You will have access to the intrinsic capabilities of Windows, from the new Start screen and Metro style apps and Internet Explorer, to peripherals, and if you wish, the Windows desktop with tools like Windows File Explorer and desktop Internet Explorer."

At the same time, those who want to focus on Metro-style apps -- Metro is the new tile-based design and user interface for Windows 8 -- don't need to spend time in desktop mode.

"Some have suggested we might remove the desktop from WOA in an effort to be pure, to break from the past, or to be more simplistic or expeditious in our approach," Sinofsky wrote. "To us, giving up something useful that has little cost to customers was a compromise that we didn't want to see in the evolution of PCs."

• The WOA devices will include desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote (code-named Office 15) and will support Windows desktop functions, including File Explorer and Internet Explorer 10.

Sinofsky's post did not say explicitly whether Office will be offered in Metro style as well.

"If anything, I would say [Sinofsky's post] sort of clarified Office might be in just Win32 and classic desktop," said Wes Miller, an analyst at the independent, Kirkland-based research firm Directions on Microsoft.

• All Metro-style apps in the new Windows Store (also scheduled to launch at the end of February) will support both WOA and Windows 8 on x86/64.

• Legacy Windows apps will not be supported on WOA devices. (Legacy apps, however, will still run on Windows 8 on PCs.)

For developers who would like their legacy apps to run on WOA devices, "that's actually a serious amount of work," rewriting and recompiling the codes, said Al Hilwa, an analyst with research firm IDC. "The consequences of that is that some apps will come [to WOA] and some won't."

For companies deciding whether to get a WOA tablet, "I don't know how many are happy about the answer, or unhappy," said Directions on Microsoft's Miller.

"But at least they'll have the information they need to make an informed decision."

What's left unanswered is when exactly the WOA devices and Windows 8 PCs will be on store shelves. Sinofsky did write, however, that the goal is for manufacturers to ship WOA devices the same time as they ship Windows 8 desktop PCs and laptops.

Also, said Miller, questions remain about price, performance and what the actual devices will be like to use.

"We have an idea now of what the software will look like. Microsoft has built it," he said. "Now we have to see what OEMs [original equipment manufacturers -- i.e. PC and tablet makers] will do with it."

Building on its slow-but-steady growth over the past few months, Bing saw slight gains again in January in its U.S. search engine share, while Yahoo continued to slide, according to comScore's latest figures.

In December 2011, Microsoft sites -- primarily Bing -- surpassed Yahoo in their share of U.S. searches for the first time, with 15.1 percent versus Yahoo's 14.5 percent.

In January 2012, according to comScore, Microsoft sites had 15.2 percent of U.S. searches, while Yahoo went down to 14.1 percent.

Google went up too in January -- from 65.9 percent in December to 66.2 percent in January.

Here's comScore's chart:

Microsoft announced the U.S. launch today of the MSN for iPad app, available in the iTunes store.

The app offers MSN content in an interactive online magazine format. In addition, there's an offline mode to allow readers to access content even without Internet connection, and a "Lasso" feature that lets users circle a word or phrase with a finger and launch a search for that word or phrase via Bing.

The app, available in the U.S. today, has already been available for users in Canada, Germany, France and the UK.

Windows President Steven Sinofsky offers some long-awaited details on Windows 8 on ARM via a new post on the Building Windows 8 blog.

Among the highlights, as detailed by Sinofsky:

• Windows on Arm (WOA) "has a very high degree of commonality and very significant shared code with Windows 8."
• "Using WOA 'out of the box' will feel just like using Windows 8 on x/86/64. ... You will have access to the intrinsic capabilities of Windows, from the new Start screen and Metro style apps and Internet Explorer, to peripherals, and if you wish, the Windows desktop with tools like Windows File Explorer and desktop Internet Explorer."
• WOA PCs are still under development. The goal is for PC makers to ship them the same time as PCs designed for Windows 8 on x86/64.
• Metro style apps in the Windows Store can support both WOA and Windows 8 on x86/64.
• WOA includes desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (codenamed "Office 15") and supports the Windows desktop experience including File Explorer, and Internet Explorer 10 for the desktop.

The complete blog post is here.

[Update 1:52 p.m.: Al Hilwa, an analyst with research firm IDC, offers his take on Sinofsky's post. Among the things that stood out for Hilwa, he said in an email, was this:

Windows 8 on ARM will not run old apps even if they are recompiled. Microsoft will control both Metro-style and Desktop apps for WOA through its app store and will require developers to rewrite existing apps to the new APIs for the desktop as well. This means there may well evolve a side-loading under-world similar to what we see on the iPad. It is not clear what exceptions Microsoft will make for businesses on this or how hard it will push WOA for businesses at all.]

Amid what appears to be interminable rounds of patent feuding, Microsoft, Apple and Google each produced statements or letters on where they stand regarding patents.

Microsoft issued a statement today saying it "will always adhere to the promises it has made to standards organizations to make its standard essential patents available on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms."

Microsoft said that means it would not seek an injunction against any firm on the basis of those "essential patents," and that the company's approach to such patents is to license them to other firms without requiring cross-licensing ("except for any patents they have that are essential to the same industry standard").

"Our approach is shared by Apple, Cisco and many others in the industry," Microsoft VP and Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner wrote in a blog post.

Heiner also outlines what "standards essential patents" are: That as technology evolves, new standards are developed (for instance, those technologies used in cellphones or computers) that often involve patented inventions.

Heiner says:

Firms benefit from having their ideas included in new standards, and in exchange for this, firms usually make a promise: that if they have any patents they have that are "essential" to implementing a standard, they will make these patents available to all. In particular, these firms typically promise that they will make these "standard essential patents" available to any firm that wishes to implement the standard on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms.

Microsoft's policy, though, doesn't prevent the company from suing to get compensation for the use of its essential patent or from taking action against firms that Microsoft believes infringe on its non-industry-standard patentsa Bloomberg article points out.

The Wall Street Journal reports, meanwhile, that Apple had sent a letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to set basic rules governing how companies license their essential patents.

And Google has sent a letter to another regulating body -- the IEEE -- "intended to assure you and any potential licensees that, following Google's acquisition of MMI {Motorola Mobility), Google will honor MMI's existing commitments to license the acquired MMI Essential Patent Claims on RAND terms." (The term RAND is used interchangeably with FRAND. They are acronyms for "reasonable and non-discriminatory" and "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory.")

Google's letter is posted on the Foss Patents blog written by intellectual-property consultant Florian Mueller. Mueller, who has been commissioned by Microsoft to conduct a study on the worldwide use of FRAND-committed patents, also includes his analyses of the various companies' patent statements and letters on his blog.

The statements and letters don't appear to change anything, though, in the ongoing patent disputes between the various tech companies.

Laura Ipsen, formerly a senior vice president at Cisco, is joining Microsoft as corporate vice president of its Worldwide Public Sector organization.

As such, she will head Microsoft's sales and marketing to government, public safety and national security, education and non-privatized healthcare in more than 100 countries, according to a Microsoft news release.

At Cisco, Ipsen was most recently senior vice president and general manager of Connected Energy Networks, leading the company's Smart Grid Business unit, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She also established and managed Cisco's Global Policy and Government Affairs division, according to Microsoft's news release.

Ipsen will report to Susan Hauser, corporate vice president of the Worldwide Enterprise & Partner Group.

(Photo of Laura Ipsen from Microsoft)

Microsoft has sent out invitations for a Windows 8 Consumer Preview event to be held on February 29th in Barcelona, Spain.

"Windows 8 Consumer Preview" is the name Microsoft is giving to the beta version of its new flagship operating system, which the company had already said would be released at the end of this month.

The event is being held at the Hotel MIramar in Barcelona at 3 p.m. Feb. 29.

It coincides with Mobile World Congress, which takes place Feb. 27 to March 1 in Barcelona, but is a separate event from MWC.