Microsoft, Samsung steam up

The deal was struck by Microsoft's Ehome division, formed to target home users with consumer devices.

Financial details were not disclosed but in a prepared statement chairman Bill Gates said that Samsung and Microsoft were to create "a new generation" of digital products.

Microsoft is interested in wireless networking. Earlier this year, we revealed that it had taken a stake in British-formed firm Sendo. µ

* JUST IN CASE YOU'RE wondering why the World+Dog seems to use the letters XP willy nilly while Microsoft got so cross about anyone using the far more common word windows, consider XP plc, a British company based in Pangbourne which filed the trademark XP quite recently.

XP relates to goods and services not excluding DC/AC inverters, computer components and NI-CAD batteries and the XP logo looks like this.