Seattle entrepreneur Greg Linden is leaving Microsoft this week, he wrote on his blog over the weekend. Linden, who previously built the Findory personalized search engine, says he had fun working at the company but decided to leave after "the dissolution of much of Live Labs." Microsoft this month moved about half the people from the applied research group into product teams. Linden, also an Amazon.com veteran, writes that he "will be taking some time before settling into anything new."

Is Kumo launching in 40 days? LiveSide.net points to a post on the Neowin forums about a clock on Microsoft's campus that appears to be counting down to the launch of Microsoft's revamped Live Search engine, currently being tested under the "Kumo" name. The timing would make sense: LiveSide points out that the countdown would end the afternoon before Qi Lu, president of Microsoft's Online Services Business, speaks at the SMX Advanced 2009 conference in Seattle. (Note: Lu's name corrected since original post.)

Bill Gates Sr., father of the Microsoft chairman, will be speaking at 1:30 p.m. today at Elliott Bay Bookstore in Seattle's Pioneer Square about his new book, "Showing Up for Life," in case you're in the neighborhood.

In case you missed it last week, Nancy Gohring of IDG News Service has a great behind-the-scenes look at Microsoft's Global Security team. That's security as in crisis management and corporate operations, as opposed to software bugs. Especially liked the part about the bright red phone.

Microsoft launched its Business Productivity Online Suite in 19 countries today, offering a 25 percent discount through June. The suite includes online versions of Exchange, SharePoint, and Office Communications Online, plus Microsoft Office Live Meeting. Services and consulting companies EDS, Accenture and Avanade are among the company's partners. More from CNet News.com.

Silicon Alley Insider quotes "someone very familiar with Yahoo's advertising business" making the case against a Microsoft deal.

Computerworld's Eric Lai has details on the first netbook computer being developed to run Google's Linux-based Android operating system, best known for running mobile phones. The machine, from Guangzhou Skytone Transmission Technologies Co., is expected to be priced around $250. It shows how the blending of the mobile and netbook markets could make Linux a bigger threat to Microsoft Windows.