Two articles from the Seattle Times:

How Microsoft’s spell-check gatekeepers select words to add. Microsoft’s Natural Language Group is in an ongoing race to keep up with the evolution of the dozens of languages for which they produce spell-checkers and other writing tools. Here’s how the group selects words to add.

Jobs with real authority: working on Microsoft’s spell-checker. “Once a word is in the Microsoft spell-checker, there’s a notion out there that that word is now official and the word is now important. We don’t take that stance internally, but that attitude exists in the world, and we have to take it into account.”