MSN’s Search Weblog is putting out an “open call” to anyone who would like to get along to Redmond, Washington state, and poke around in the workings of Microsoft’s search engine.

In the past, visits were strictly by invitaion only, and usually restricted to geeky types who would have a good understanding of search technology. With that deft PR touch that MS always shows, visitors were labelled “Search Champs” ~ even when they were nothing of the sort. Now, you can apply for Champ status without a by-your-leave.

Brady Forrest of the MSN Search Team puts it this way : “The event will take place in Redmond (on the MS campus) from 1/24-1/26 and expenses will be paid by us. Champs will be selected based on who applies and what products we are reviewing. Hope to meet you!” Get an application form.

I hope there’s plenty of CHAMPagne and CHAMPignons.

According to IT Jungle, Bill Gates is poised to leave Microsoft to concentrate on his philanthropic work. The website records : “… he is poised to take a final bow saying, ‘I won’t be back..’ Yet, before he can leave, he has to pull off a corporate hat trick, launching new versions of Internet Explorer, Office, and Windows. Unfortunately, Windows Vista could trip him at the exit.”

Now I don’t know if this is supposition, rumour going around, or just plain guesswork, but it does make sense. Gates must be aware that Microsoft will never be able to maintain current revenues from the desktop in this Web 2.0 era. And advertising a la Google will not replace it either. Thus, it must be past its peak. He would not want to stay around to preside over its inevitable declining years. So the logic is there.

As for the reference to Windows Vista tripping him up, they mean that the move from raster graphics to vector will require much greater hardware resources than most will be able to afford.

The website continues : And for Bill Gates, undoubtedly suffering from terminal tedium, now he can turn to the remarkable Steve Ballmer and his other shareholders and say, “Hasta la vista.”

You heard it there first.

Two news items caught my eye today, both linking Microsoft and Linux, and both disadvantaging the open-source model.

The first story reported that Microsoft had asked for references to Linux and free software to be removed from a UN document, titled “The Vienna Conclusions”, which was presented last week to the UN World Summit on Information. This was done, and a body called Free Software of Europe, represented on the panel, complained that it was not informed of the changes.

Microsoft admitted yesterday what had happened. The company claimed that Linux was attempting to destroy software as a commercial product and, by implication, businesses like Microsoft.

The second story was that, for the first time in quite a while, Microsoft’s Windows server software comfortably outsold previous market leader Linux by 37 percent to 32 percent. This was on a revenue basis, and Windows is more expensive. Nevertheless, analysts were astonished at the news. With Redmond due to launch a huge raft of products over the next 12 months, Linux, say some, may be blown right away.

Both stories illustrate a toughening attitude to the open source world by Microsoft, which is also seeking to make its XML Office format a recognized standard in competition with ODF (OpenDocuments Format) used increasingly by official bodies in Europe, and states like Massachusetts.

There’s no doubt the gloves are not just off, they’ve been shredded. Microsoft is doing what it does best, getting down and fighting dirty, just as Steve Ballmer said.

The coming year will see Bill Gates’s crew go head to head with Google over AOL, and in many areas where the relative newbie is blurring the lines between desktop apps and Web-based services. Windows Live and Office Live are as yet unknown quantities, “live” only in the sense of PR statements and whipped-up media hype. Their gradual moves to maturity through 2006 will be worth watching.

The battle with Linux may well have been won already. Steve Johnson, a founder of Feedster, advises Gates and Ballmer to start recruiting from the “poor as church mice” developers in the open-source melting pot. Take the best, and see them off, is his line.

With companies and market share already beginning to crumble, Yahoo drawing back from confrontation with Microsoft on AOL, and Google, for all its endeavour, only one-eighth of the size of Microsoft in income terms, this may be the start of another brilliant period for the Redmond monster.

However, one certainty of the 1980s should be constantly mulled over by Microsoft’s leaders :

“No manager was ever fired for buying IBM.” This was followed by the biggest loss in corporate history, $6 billion.

So there’s a new font for Windows Vista and Office 12. It’s called Segoe UI and is illustrated in the image. It’s based on the ClearType principles designed for added readability onscreen and better scanning of text. All necessary, of course, and worth the initial resistance from some.

For more information, see my other post at Office 12 Watch.