By JAMES DERK Microsoft is boldly going where the company has never gone before.

By James Derk Scripps Howard News Service Microsoft is boldly going where the company has never gone before -- and I am tempted to say, "an operating system that won't crash," but instead I will say, "into space." The company, which obviously has time on its hands, has released "Microsoft WorldWide Telescope." which is a really cool and ill- named application.

By DAVID SHAMAH In the world (Internet) war, no quarter is safe - everything is up for grabs. Legend has it that after the Titans did battle on earth, they brought their war up to the stars. Well, the legend has come to pass.

For people who have gazed up at the night sky in wonder and wished they had someone there to identify what they were looking at, Microsoft's (MSFT) WorldWide Telescope [WWT] is coming to the rescue.

By Benjamin J. Romano, Seattle Times May 13--Microsoft Research is launching a free application today that lets people navigate deep into the universe and view galaxies, nebulae, planets and other celestial objects through the lenses of the world's best observatories.