Bye-bye Ma Bell. Hello Pa Gates? So, is it just me, or is it weird that right after AT&T (who were something of a monopoly, albeit a legal one, back in the day) gets gobbled up by SBC, Microsoft begins its most recent, and potentially most serious push into the phone business? Crazy, man. Clearly, Microsoft is a great bellwether of the future of computing. I think it's interesting that in the last handful of years they've begun to expand their focus from OS's and office suites in two seriously different directions: the corporate data center and the home. While the focus on the data center is obvious, the consumer products are particularly interesting to me. I know people have been preaching the coming convergence for years (including yours truly from time to time), Microsoft may be, ahem, telegraphing their bet for the client of the future. Or hedging it. Stay tuned...  ¶ 9:39 PM