When Google released Chrome last Fall, I wrote that it represented a direct attack on Microsoft and Apple. This week, my colleague Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes in ComputerWorld that Android could be coming to a Netbook near you by the end of this year.

Mishmash of news; Apple's helping hand to Microsoft is reappearing now that GNU/Linux and ODF gain traction, partly thanks to Google

A BusinessWeek report suggests that the Nexus One release marks the latest volley in an escalating war between Google and Apple, but could the two companies be better off working together and acting as a check against Microsoft?

Microsoft has now joined Apple in a guerrilla war against Google's Android, and Google's next steps are far from certain. The smartphone industry is still in its infancy, but its strategic importance to computer companies big and small can't be overstated.

One thing that both Google and Apple share is that almost the instant that they announce a new product, the public loves it. That's partly because they tend to deliver winning products, but they don't always do so. Google has shuttered a number of projects from its labs, and its productivity applications are popular, but haven't come close to toppling Microsoft Office.

Some news sites have begun suggesting that since Microsoft would benefit from Apple's aggression, then Microsoft could also be involved in it

The HTML Working Group at the W3C loses a co-chairing Microsoft employee, but gains two who are coming from freedom-hostile firms

How Microsoft works to create civil wars and Google hate/unrest (and even get Apple fans to distrust or dislike Google)

Microsoft may be using its newly-acquired influence inside the FCC against competitors (Apple in this case, not Google)