Google is seeking to join the European Commission's antitrust proceeding against Microsoft. Last month, the EC notified Microsoft of its "preliminary view that the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows since 1996 has violated European competition law." The EC's antitrust investigation stems from a December 2007 complaint by Opera Software, maker of the Opera Web browser, which competes with Internet Explorer.

In a blog post Tuesday, Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president product management, wrote, "Google believes that the browser market is still largely uncompetitive, which holds back innovation for users. This is because Internet Explorer is tied to Microsoft's dominant computer operating system, giving it an unfair advantage over other browsers." Google recently launched Chrome, its own browser.

I was off most of Tuesday and didn't have the opportunity to attend Microsoft's TechFest. There were several interesting projects from Microsoft Research on exhibit.

My colleague, Brier Dudley, covered an experimental interface that lets you control a video projector using gestures, and other projects in this story.

Todd Bishop at TechFlash zoomed in on a new Internet search effort by Microsoft Research called Viveri. The idea is to test new concepts in Internet search without going through the formal process of adding them to the company's main search engine, Live Search.