Advertising Age reports that JWT, which has been getting more business from Microsoft of late, has landed an $80 million to $100 million advertising campaign for the company's Internet search service, which is expected to undergo a major rebranding later this year. The story says the campaign is expected to begin in June. Microsoft's search team had some April Fool's fun Wednesday, poking at its branding troubles with a post announcing the debut of "MSN Windows Live Search on kumo@microsoft.com."

Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division, indicated an Office application that would let Apple iPhone users edit documents could be in the works. Asked at the Web 2.0 Expo today about a mobile edition of Office for the iPhone, Elop said, "Not yet -- keep watching," according to this eWeek story.

A nugget from the BBC's blanket coverage of the G20 summit and President Obama's first visit to the U.K.:

"The BBC's Peter Hunt says: President Obama has given the Queen an Ipod during their private meeting at Buckingham Palace. It contains footage of her state visit to the US in May 2007. The Queen has given the president a silver framed photograph of herself and her husband. The official picture is what she gives all visiting dignitaries."

Recall in December the flurry of speculation after Obama was seen working out in a Philadelphia gym listening to a Zune. An Obama spokesman was quoted at the time saying, "Not true, the President-elect uses an iPod."

Microsoft is introducing a new low-price, entry-level server for small businesses with fewer than 15 employees as a way to introduce them to the company's broader server software line and address falling server hardware prices.

"If somebody can buy a $500 server, they're a little loathe to spend $500 for the server operating system that goes with it," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said last month, explaining the new version of Windows Server to financial analysts.

U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman decided today to postpone trial of the Vista Capable lawsuit, which was due to begin April 13. After hearing oral arguments last week on certification of two new classes, Pechman determined that a continuance -- as requested by the plaintiffs' attorneys -- was appropriate.

After Pechman decertified the original class in February, the plaintiffs sought two new narrower classes with the trial date bearing down. Last week, Pechman heard arguments on the new class certification attempt and indicated she would rule on the class certification request as early as today. She also indicated skepticism that the case would proceed to trial on April 13.

In her ruling today, Pechman wrote, "Plaintiffs' motion presents novel legal arguments that require thorough analysis. Without taking any position on the motion for narrowed class certification, the Court believes a continuance is appropriate."

Find more background on the case here.

Microsoft's gold-plated health insurance plan will be featured during PBS' news magazine "Frontline" tonight at 9 p.m. on KCTS channel 9. The episode, "Sick Around America," focuses on the broken U.S. health care system and how rising unemployment is leaving more people without coverage. Microsoft appears to be included as an example of American health care at its best. From a release previewing the episode:

"For Microsoft employee Mark Murray and his wife, Melinda, their employee health plan paid for eight years of fertility treatments and covered all the costs of a very complicated pregnancy. "If it wasn't for our health insurance," Murray says, "we wouldn't have a baby boy right now." The Murrays' medical bills totaled between $500,000 and $1 million, and their plan covered every penny."

You can watch a trailer of the episode here.

Microsoft sued portable GPS maker TomTom in February for patent infringement, raising the specter of a first Microsoft attempt to file suit over an implementation of the open source Linux operating system, which Microsoft has long claimed violated its patents. TomTom counter sued earlier this month.

Today, Microsoft announced that the companies have settled both suits through a "patent agreement under which TomTom will pay Microsoft for coverage under the eight car navigation and file management systems patents in the Microsoft case. Also as part of the agreement, Microsoft receives coverage under the four patents included in the TomTom countersuit. The agreement, which has a five-year term, does not require any payment by Microsoft to TomTom. It covers both past and future U.S. sales of the relevant products. The specific financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed."

Microsoft is rolling out a new Windows commercial today that takes the most direct swipe yet at rival Apple.

The commercial, which feels tuned for these tough economic times, follows a woman on a quest to find a laptop with "speed, comfortable keyboard and a 17-inch screen" for $1,000 or less. "Lauren" walks into an Apple store -- she calls it "the Mac store" -- and then walks out and tells the camera, "For $1,000 they only have one computer available and that's a 13-inch screen." She ends up buying an HP for about $700. Here's the spot, set to air during March Madness:

<br/><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090403025939/http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=0bb6a07c-c829-4562-8375-49e6693810c7" target="_new" title="Laptop Hunters $1000 - Lauren Gets an HP Pavilion">Video: Laptop Hunters $1000 - Lauren Gets an HP Pavilion</a>

Microsoft posted a download page for the next major Windows 7 milestone. The page, since removed, said the Windows 7 Release Candidate would be out in May -- a bit later than previous rumors of an April RC. Emil Protalinski at Ars Technica spotted the Microsoft TechNet download page and has recreated it on his blog. A release candidate is one of the last stops on the way to a final version of the operating system. Ed Bott at ZDNet incorporates the new info from the TechNet page into his estimated Windows 7 timeline. He's guessing late September for a retail launch, setting up for holiday PC shopping. "[H]oliday sales are crucial, and a September release allows for a full-on marketing blitz for the fourth quarter," Bott wrote.