Microsoft agrees alliance with Facebook

By Richard Waters in Redmond, Washington, and Kevin Allison in San Francisco Microsoft predicted continued heavy costs from its attempt to go head-to-head with Google and announced an online search alliance with Facebook, as it tried to convince Wall Street that it could recover from a failed bid for Yahoo. Thursday’s developments capped a week that has added to pressure on Steve Ballmer, chief executive, to prove that he can get results from Microsoft’s long-running and expensive efforts to become a major force in the internet... [read full story]