TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Microsoft to Cede Control of Key Technology: The Redmond, Wash.-based firm, in an effort to dispel concerns generated in part by its vast industry power, said it will give up control of a key set of programming technologies. Microsoft Corp. executives said they will invite a group of customers, software developers and other industry executives to meet to help determine a way to move control of the company’s ActiveX technology to an independent body. The technology, a set of standards that allows computer programmers to create software applications out of small movable “objects,” is a key part of the company’s huge transformation toward concentrating on the Internet.