[alasdair_]

>My guess, it was a typo in client and they've registered misspelled domain as easiest fix for backwards compatibility with affected old releases.

It was created in 1996, so likely not. Although that expiration date is interesting...

Domain Name: MICROSFT.COM Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC. Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 292 Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com Name Server: NS1.MSFT.NET Name Server: NS2.MSFT.NET Name Server: NS3.MSFT.NET Name Server: NS4.MSFT.NET Status: clientDeleteProhibited https://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited Status: clientTransferProhibited https://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited Status: clientUpdateProhibited https://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited Updated Date: 31-jul-2015 Creation Date: 02-sep-1996 Expiration Date: 01-sep-2016

[xeeeeeeeeeeenu]

I don't know what WHOIS database are you using, but it's outdated. The real dates are:

Updated Date: 2018-07-31T09:30:41Z

Creation Date: 1996-09-02T04:00:00Z

Registry Expiry Date: 2019-09-01T04:00:00Z