Documentation has been published by Microsoft, informing about its plans to implement support to the OASIS Open Document Format Version 1.1 in Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2, when it becomes available in 2009. Microsoft informs that it would offer similar notes on how it will support Open XML in Office in the near future.

San Francisco  - A survey of internet leaders and analysts has predicted that most people will use mobile devices such as smartphones to access the internet in
2020, but cautioned that the spread of communications networks would not necessarily make the world a better place.

"A strong undercurrent of anxiety runs through these experts' answers," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project that polled almost 1,200 experts.

"They are quite sure the internet and cell phones will continue to advance at an amazing clip, but they are not at all sure people will make the same kind of progress as they embrace better, faster, cheaper gadgets," he said Wednesday.

San Francisco- Microsoft issued an emergency patch Wednesday for its Internet Explorer browser, aiming to fix a critical flaw that allowed hackers to take over computers merely by steering them to infected websites.

Microsoft took the rare step of issuing the patch after numerous security experts advised people to switch to rival browsers until Microsoft fixed the problem. Microsoft usually releases patches on a set schedule and this is only the third emergency patch in the last three years.

San Francisco  - Responding to widespread concerns among users and privacy advocates, internet portal Yahoo announced on Wednesday that it would make users' internet search data anonymous within 90 days, except when there are fraud or security concerns.

The move comes amid growing concerns about the way search engines keep track of what customers look for on the web, and Yahoo said its new policy set a new standard for the internet industry.

San Francisco - Shares of Apple were down some 7 per cent in early trading Wednesday amid investor concerns that undisclosed health problems were the behind iconic chief executive Steve Jobs' decision not to address the MacWorld Expo next month.

Jobs, 53, has given the keynote address at the past 11 Macworlds, but the company announced Tuesday that it would end its participation after the January 6 expo in San Francisco and that Apple's keynote speech there would be made not by Jobs but by Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing.