Yahoo has announced the departure of its financial chief just two days after he backed a sale of the firm’s search business. The upheaval comes as Microsoft’s own financial chief warns that a deal with Yahoo wouldn’t be a magic solution for its online woes.

Microsoft has announced 36 changes to Windows 7 as a result of the beta testing. With the next stage being a release candidate, it’s likely these will be the last changes of features rather than bug fixes.

Google is asking to give evidence in an ongoing regulatory case which could see rival browsers installed as part of Windows. The timing has caused some to question Google’s motives for joining the dispute.

Microsoft Office 14 is going to be late. How late depends on who you listen to but some suggestions are as late as the second half of 2010. The Microsoft Business Division is responsible for about 29 percent of that company’s revenue and 90 percent of that contribution comes from the sale of Microsoft Office-branded products, including its principal applications suite.

Microsoft says it has studied successful firms of the late 1930s to take inspiration for surviving and flourishing in a recession. The firm also confirmed it is still interested in an online ad partnership with Yahoo.

Microsoft staff are working on an internet browser designed to be more secure than either Internet Explorer or any of its rivals. The project is still at the prototype stage and the browser still needs work to improve sluggish performance.

The final release of Vista’s second Service Pack looks relatively imminent with the release of a ‘final’ testing edition. Meanwhile Windows 7’s release candidate looks set for April.

Microsoft has succeeded in a bid to throw out the class action status of the Vista Capable lawsuit. The ruling means each person claiming they were misled by the marketing scheme must launch a separate legal case.

Microsoft has secured a deal for its Silverlight technology to power CBS’s live Web site streaming of March Madness. The video quality should be three times greater than last year’s coverage

Microsoft has signed a rare deal with a major distributor of Linux-based operating systems. But the agreement is far from the software giant embracing open source software.

With Microsoft heavily restricting the distribution of Windows XP, several manufacturers and retailers now charge a downgrade fee to replace Vista on new machines. If a new legal challenge is successful, Microsoft could wind up footing the bill for those downgrades.

Microsoft has offered a $250,000 reward to track down the creators of a virus which infected an estimated 10 million Windows computers. The bounty will be paid if and when the creators of the Conficker virus are found and convicted.

Microsoft is warning business customers that skipping Vista and going straight to Windows 7 may cause problems (beyond lower revenues for the firm). The warning comes in a new company blog aimed at business users.

On the face of it, Microsoft’s latest monthly update seems quite light with ‘just’ two critical vulnerabilities. But one of them, for Exchange Server, is an absolute doozy.

If you really hate Linux – or at least are willing to pretend to – Microsoft might have the job for you. The firm is advertising for an executive who will be specifically responsible for competing against open source software.