NEW YORK1: Microsoft discussed the possibility of buying out Adobe Systems at a recent meeting between their chief executives Steve Ballmer and Shantanu Narayen , says a media report. 

British daily Financial Times has reported that a possible Microsoft acquisition of Adobe Systems was among the ideas for closer cooperation, raised informally at a meeting of their chiefs. 

Attributing the development to two people familiar with the meeting, the publication said that Microsoft's and Adobe Systems' Narayen, "played down the prospect that the informal takeover suggestion

For most people, surfing the internet has become synonymous with clicking on the ‘e’ icon on their computers to launch Internet Explorer (IE). And while it is by far the most popular browser in the world, of late, IE had seen increasing threat from others such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera that claim to be faster, have more features, and more secure. Microsoft’s answer to all these criticisms has been to unveil a new version of the browser: Internet Explorer 9 (IE9).

A beta that looks good...

The new browser is currently in a beta version, which means that while it has a number of features and is generally usable, it is not quite the finished article,

BOSTON: Microsoft Corp issued its biggest-ever security fix on Tuesday, including repairs to its ubiquitous Windows operating system for flaws that could let hackers take control of a user's personal computer.

Microsoft released 16 security patches to address 49 problems it identified in its products. It said four of the patches were high priority and should be deployed immediately to protect users from potential criminal attacks on the Windows operating systems.

The patches are software updates that write over glitches. Microsoft said it also repaired other less serious security weaknesses in Windows, along with security problems in its widely used Office software for PCs and Microsoft Server software for business computers.

The total of 49 vulnerabilities exceeds the previous record of 34, which was set in October 2009 and matched in June and August of this year.

The constant patching of PCs is a time-consuming process for corporate users, who need to test the fixes before they deploy them to make sure they do not cause machines to crash because of compatibility problems with existing software.