Umm, pretty self-explanitory.

Ballmer and Gates unveil a couple of quick snippets of Windows 7, including the new multi-touch interface. The demo itself looks a little reminiscent of an iPhone to me, but hey, that’s alright. Nothing wrong with emulating what another product has done right.

The only problem I’m having with all this hooplah is all the doublespeak going on. Either push Vista as a solid, long-term solution that’s here to stay for at least a few years – nobody’s expecting another 8 years out of this OS – or push Windows 7 as the new beginning. Either way, you can’t, in the course of a single interview, describe Vista as the greatest version of Windows yet, and go on to sing the praises of how Windows 7 will improve upon Vista’s shortcomings. Nobody is going to buy this “Vista is great! …but Windows 7 is…GREATER!” nonsense.

Microsoft has just looked lost to me as of late – their MSN model is quickly losing money, their failed attempt at a music store to compete with the likes of Amazon and iTunes, a much-hyped MP3/4 player that came out average at best, an absolutely astronomical (and nonsensical, IMO) bid - going nearly “all in” against Yahoo, and lost – not once, but twice – and they seem quite tongue-in-cheek about ever having had the notion that they’d be able to just buy Yahoo outright that easily.

Get it together guys, or the disparaging Mac vs. PC (read:Vista) commercials will be but the tip of the iceberg.