MAJOR PAPERS:

• Walter S. Mossberg, who writes the Wall Street Journal's "Personal Technology" column, reviewed Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) new Leopard operating system, and said it was "better and faster than [Windows] Vista".
• Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) is halting two small studies of the most promising drug in its pipeline, prasugrel, which it hopes will bring over $1B a year in sales for the drug maker, reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) has beaten Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) in a closely watched contest, winning a minority stake in Facebook for $240M, and the right to sell advertising on the
  Facebook site outside the U.S..
• JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is considering acquiring a stake in a Chinese brokerage as part of its expansion strategy in the country, said Gaby Abdelnour, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Asia Pacific, reported the Financial Times (subscription required).
• The Financial Times reported that Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) raised its earnings outlook and announced that its 1H07 profits had tripled, thanks to the success of its Wii video game console and the DS, its handheld games player.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) highlighted the struggles of Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), a company that is dealing with the competition catching up to them in a tough competitive environment. CEO Gary Kelly said, "The threat to our future is real."
• Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) is expected to pay $700M for Automated Trading Desk, an electronic trading firm, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) and Dow Jones and Company Inc (NYSE: DJ) have reached a preliminary understanding for a way to safeguard the editorial independence of the Wall Street Journal and the other Dow Jones publications, which had been the key road block to a deal, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• Walter Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal technology guru, spent two weeks testing Apple Inc's (NASDAQ: AAPL) new iPhone, and said it was "a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer."

OTHER PAPERS:

• Also regarding the iPhone, according to Newsweek, Steve Jobs said of the high expectations for the iPhone, "I think we're going to blow away the expectations."
• The New York Post has learned that Nordstrom Inc (NYSE: JWN) has apparently reached a deal to sell its Faconnable chain to a Lebanese private equity firm.

Although I think Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg sometimes misses the mark, he's right on the money when he complains about the software gunk that comes preloaded on almost every new Windows PC.

This is stuff the consumer never asked for that ends up slowing a new PC down while littering the menus and other areas with so much garbage that the average consumer ends up pulling their virtual hair out.

Why does so much software come pre-installed on that new, shiny PC? Well, part of the cost of that PC is likely being subsidized by those software makers that pay to have their products installed on the machine. The hope is that a new PC owner will buy the "full version" of that software.

This makes the cost of the PC go down a bit, but as Walt says, it also makes the informed computer buyer become a "digital maintenance man wading through annoying and confusing chores" in order to get all that stuff uninstalled or out of the way. You know, so you can actually enjoy using that new computer without a plethora of roadblocks.

The first thing I do when purchasing a new Windows PC is start uninstalling all of the preloaded software. Not only does this free up valuable hard drive space, it gets the "muck" out of the way and allows the machine -- which I paid for -- to be the way I want it. Ideally, I'd love to buy a Windows PC and have nothing installed but the Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) software.

That is virtually impossible these days, so I'll spend about an hour getting rid of all the trial software (virus scanners, online services, photo programs, etc.) to get my machine to as close to bare as possible. Then, I make it all mine (they way I want it). Have similar experiences? Tell me about them.

[Via techdirt]

MacDaily News reports today that Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Chairmen Bill Gates will share the stage at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference this year. These two titans will jointly discuss the history and future of the digital revolution in a supposed, unrehearsed and unscripted conversation, on May 30 with The Journal's ace tech reporters (and "D" co-producers) Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

Both Jobs and Gates have made numerous individual appearances at this conference, but the two have never previously shared the stage and limelight. The question is which one will outsmart the other as many will be watching as they discreetly sell their distinct and competitive companies in this friendly format. (Just consider Apple's "PC versus Mac guy" series of TV commercials, which Gates says "bugs him.")

It seems that Apple has been one step ahead of Microsoft in the consumer product sector as it has bested Microsoft in the digital music market, the phone market, and is gaining rapidly in the personal computer market. But Gates has a leg up with the X-Box and still-dominant computer operating system, let alone software.

This unscripted tete-a-tete may even be better than the Apple TV spots.

Microsoft Corporation's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Vista is just about to be released, even though skeptics (myself included) don't see much value in upgrading to the new operating system for our uses, yet, anyway. What will make Windows Vista popular -- initially -- is the fact that it will come pre-installed on million of new computers this year. That fact alone will start the transition to Vista more than anything.

After five years of development, the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg says that many of the boldest plans for Microsoft's new operating system were discarded in that lengthy process (very true) and that what's left is a worthy, but largely unexciting, product. To that, I agree. I've used a few "Release Candidates" of Windows Vista and find that its uses are -- for me and all like me -- covered in WindowsXP Media Center addition. So, why upgrade?

For starters, many consumer-level machines will start shipping with Windows Vista this year. In fact, probably all the PC manufacturers will ship Vista Basic on all new PCs meant for consumer consumption. For business users, the choice to use older WindowsXP versions will of course, stay intact for now. Even though Mossberg says that Windows Vista is much prettier than previous versions of Windows -- and that Vista is the best version of Windows that Microsoft has produced -- the operating system isn't a breakthrough in ease of use.

So, Windows Vista works pretty much the same way as WindowsXP for most of us. Will you be buying it?