Paul Thurrott

Regulators from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are working jointly to discover more about how mobile device makers are patching security vulnerabilities. And they’ve reached out to device makers big and small to find out more.

Microsoft announced today that it will shut down its MSN web portal in China, ceding the market to Baidu.com. Not coincidentally, Microsoft is partnering with Baidu on other initiatives, including Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge, in China.

Because life is too short for crapware, this edition of Short Takes focuses on Microsoft’s decision to end the free Windows 10 upgrade and kill the upgrade nagware, Microsoft won’t fix Windows 7 bug, admins can no longer block Store on Windows 10 Pro, and much, much more.

Because Microsoft controls the weather now, this edition of Short Takes focuses on Microsoft’s use of DNA for storage, Skype’s one billion mobile downloads, Microsoft’s Windows phone messaging, Google’s pending EU sanctions, Google copies Microsoft’s mission statement, Amazon’s AWS surge, and much more.

Following in the footsteps of the Europe Commission, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is expanding its own investigation of Android to see whether Google is violating U.S. antitrust laws. But it’s unlikely that this investigation will ever amount to actual charges.

Apple recorded revenues of over $50 billion in the quarter ending March 31, but the firm sold fewer iPhones, iPads, and Macs than it did in the same period a year ago. It was the consumer electronic giant’s first year-over-year revenue decline in 13 years.

Microsoft and Google jointly announced on Friday that the two firms would set aside their regulatory complaints against each other around the world. Now, the firms will only compete in the open market, they say.

Because this happens only four times a year, this edition of Short Takes focuses on Microsoft’s quarterly earnings report: the big picture, plus closer looks at cloud, Windows, Surface, Phone, Xbox and Office.

As expected, the European Union’s European Commission formally charged Google with violating antitrust laws by forcing its hardware maker and wireless carrier partners to bundle its own apps and services in the dominant Android mobile OS.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week refused to hear a challenge to an important Google book scanning lawsuit, leaving an appeals court decision in place. It’s just the latest in a long line of reminders of how hands-off the U.S. is with tech giants compared to the EU.

Like Microsoft before it, Google is discovering that domination has its downsides: The search giant is now under legal fire on multiple fronts, each of which could deal Google major setbacks.

Because I’m stuck in meetings and dying on the inside, this edition of Short Takes focuses on a new Microsoft bot, warnings about using QuickTime on Windows, HTC 10, the U.S. D.O.D. advises its employees to use Windows 10 at home too, Microsoft’s Word Flow keyboard is coming to iPhone, and more.