MICROSOFT HOLDS A SPRING CLEARANCE SALE: In an announcement to a gathering of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, Microsoft Intellectual Property (IP) Ventures is opening its doors to research labs a little and is offering what it says are 'hundreds' of innovations that can be licenced by start ups and venture capitalists.

Unlike IBM however, this IP comes at a price. Microsoft is willing to discuss terms which can be a mixture of royalties or stock options, but says it is flexible enough not to deter the bankers. While IBM initially drew a lot of praise for the move as a sign of its commitment to the open source community, a closer look showed that many of the patents were of little value. Microsoft, by charging money for its IP at least has the incentive to make sure the technologies on offer are worth paying for.

A list of the available IP can be found here.