Just a day after the European hammer fell hard on Microsoft, there are yet more clouds on the horizon. Small ones still, but nonetheless this is a bad time to get distracted by yet another rearing head.

This time the thunder comes from IBM, Microsoft's erstwhile partner in Windows-driven PCs (Redmond's calling Beijing these days since the Chinese firm Lenovo bought out IBM's PC business - and the calls may be a bit more frantic since Lenovo said it would start selling PCs pre-loaded with the open source Linux operating system). Big Blue today unveiled Lotus Symphony, a suite of office software applications designed to compete directly with Microsoft Office. 

IBM's embrace of open source software is old news, and it's Lotus line of products has been competing with Microsoft offerings in e-mail, messaging and work group collaborations. But this is a frontal assault on the gates of Fortress Redmond, and the secret weapon is this: Lotus Symphony is free.

Symphony is also adhering to the OpenDocument Format standard, which has been endorsed by the International Organization of Standards. Microsoft's proprietary version of the standard, Open Office XML, was turned down by the same body earlier this month.

This move puts IBM squarely in the camp with Google in embracing both open standards and anything that will chip away at Microsoft's lock on the PC market. Google today also revealed its new presentation function for Google Docs, its - you guessed it - suite of software applications designed to compete directly with Microsoft Office, and also available for free or a fraction of the cost of Office.

I had some thoughts on Google's initiative and the Microsoft court ruling yesterday. But as if that weren't enough, today Yahoo, Microsoft's competitor in search technology, would buy a San Mateo, Calif. company called Zimbra that makes a white-label e-mail program for corporate clients, thus giving Yahoo an in into the business world that Google targeting with Google Apps. And of course, the office is Microsoft territory.

It seems Microsoft is having one of those uneasy-lies-the-head moments. The line was uttered by King Henry IV shortly before relinquishing the crown to his son. Shakespeare presented the rise of Prince Hal to the throne as a positive thing, but Microsoft is hardly ready to exit the stage. To be continued.