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Microsoft embracing open source?
Microsoft embracing open source?

Technology news never stops and to make sure that you know what happened while you were distracted by Champions League, sleep or anything else – we’ve rounded up the major overnight stories.

Let’s start with Microsoft, who appears to be finally embracing the open source revolution.

The Redmond company has confirmed that, from next year, Open Document Files (ODFs) will be compatible with Office programs – and can be altered and resaved in that file format.

"Microsoft is going to be providing support for three new file formats directly in the Office product," said vice president and general counsel for Europe Erich Anderson to Reuters.

The other two formats are Adobe’s popular PDF format and Microsoft’s own competitor to PDF – XPS.

New NVidia details surface

Details of NVidia’s latest chips are beginning to surface, but the news points to evolution and not revolution.

Daily Tech suggests that two cards based on the upcoming D10U graphics core will be arriving, codenamed the GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260.

Expect three-way SLI support and PhysX support.

E Ink getting better

We’re all excited about E Ink displays, but not entirely convinced the technology is ready for the mainstream just yet.

But perhaps that is set to change with Epson showing off a high-res display that looks pretty darn gorgeous.

Epson, aided by E Ink, are producing the display from low-temperature polycrystal Si-TFT glass substrate medium.

Cash for search

Coming full circle, and returning to the world of Microsoft, the software giant is attempting to take a chunk out of Google’s search market by paying for people to use its Live search.

Targeting shoppers, Microsoft will use the tried and trusted method of bribery to lure people back onto its site – offering between two and 30 per cent off some partner products in its ‘cashback’ scheme.

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.

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