This week we’ve recorded another podcast, which you can download now. The panel of the 9th show included our host Paul Boag, Flash guru Aral Balkan, acclaimed Cotwolds web designer John Oxton, .net writer Gary Marshall and myself. Most of the hour is taken up by discussions on the big two: Microsoft and Google. Microsoft’s Silverlight has been hailed a “Flash killer” and Microsoft finally got some really good press and support from leading geeks like Robert Scoble. Then Steve Ballmer went and ruined it all by announcing that open source software infringes on more than 200 of Microsoft patents. The open source community wasn’t too pleased.

Google, meanwhile, is growing like mad. On the show we discuss .net’s Google issue, how the company has opened up recently and what we can expect next on its quest for world domination. In fact, Google announced loads of new products at this week’s invite-only Searchology event. Check out Google Experimental, for example, which is aimed at improving our search experiences. For more information see Techcrunch’s writeup of the event.

Have a cracking weekend