Microsoft is teaming with Cisco and Intel to back the creation of a 21st century curriculum. The companies are funding a project to explore better ways of teaching and evaluating students in critical thinking, collaboration, problem solving, communication and other broad areas -- skills that they demand from their employees, said Anoop Gupta, who heads Microsoft's Unlimited Potential program.

There are several interesting narratives to be found in the 252 pages of e-mail released last night in the Windows Vista Capable class action lawsuit unfolding in Seattle. Microsoft is accused of deceiving consumers who bought PCs in 2006 labeled "Vista Capable," but which could only run a basic version of the operating system.

The e-mails are interesting because they give an unvarnished look at how Microsoft worked with its most important partners on marketing for its most important product: Windows. Here is an excerpt from our story in today's paper:

U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman unsealed several documents containing internal Microsoft and Intel e-mails, in the ongoing class action lawsuit against Microsoft over marketing of Windows Vista.

Update, Friday morning: For a more concise telling of what's in the documents, check out this story from today's paper.

Microsoft shares were trading down $1.50, about 7.2 percent, to $18.80 at 1:06 p.m. Eastern Time today, an intra-day low not seen since Jan. 30, 1998, when the company's stock hit $18.45 before closing at $18.65.

(Update, 1 p.m.: Can you say volatility? Microsoft climbed into positive territory late in the day. At 3:57 p.m. Eastern, the stock was up 76 cents, 3.7 percent, to $21.04.

Also, see this post to read why one financial analyst expects PC sales growth to slow to a trickle in the next 7 and a half months, and the impact that could have on Microsoft revenue.)

Analyst firm Gartner reported third-quarter PC shipments grew 15 percent year-over-year to 80.6 million units, lead by strength in the newer mini-notebook segment. But analysts continue their skeptical view of the tech sector -- which begins reporting September quarter earnings this week -- in anticipation of tighter IT budgets.

Cray just announced a $25,000 to $80,000 high-performance computer, the CX1, targeted at a broader market of scientists, business analysts, engineers and others whose data-intensive work increasingly demands more computing horse power. The Seattle super-computer maker is loading the CX1 with Windows HPC Server 2008, Microsoft's latest high-performance computing operating system. The CX1 is built on Intel Xeon processors.

Microsoft is finally putting Windows on the One Laptop Per Child low-cost XO machines aimed at children in poor countries. Here's coverage of the development, which had been anticipated for some time, from The Associated Press.

Makers of ultra-low-cost PCs (ULPCs) such as ASUS and Intel can install Windows XP Home until June 30, 2010, or one year after the general availability of Windows 7, whichever is later, Microsoft said today. But isn't Windows 7 supposed to be available in 2010?

Microsoft's "white spaces" demonstration device is broken. For the third time.

On Tuesday, Microsoft and Intel, along with researchers from two as-yet unnamed universities, are planning to announce "significant new research ventures," according to a news release Microsoft sent out this afternoon.

The executives making the announcement are Tony Hey, corporate vice president in charge of external research at Microsoft Research, and Andrew Chien, an Intel vice president in charge of the Corporate Technology Group and director of Intel Research.

I wonder if their announcement will look anything like the ongoing research into Internet-scale applications backed by Google and IBM, which got its start at the University of Washington.