Microsoft Unveiling in Five Hours

Hey, wow! Word is that Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division is going to be unveiling a top-secret new product tonight at midnight EST, which will "change the way people interact with technology."

Wait, did I say "Hey, wow?" I meant, "Yawn."

For all I know Microsoft is about to unveil a working personal time machine that runs on jelly beans and sells for $99. But I really can't get too excited over MS hype because they haven't exactly been on a roll lately. There's the Zune (which I've picked on enough lately), the not-so-wow Vista operating system, and the UMPC (which underwhelmed until the new and improved version).

The smart-alecks at Gizmodo rightly point out that the timing is good, as tomorrow Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are having a public tête-à-tête tomorrow at Wall Street Journal's D Conference. Because while the two will likely talk about the last three decades of computing, when it comes to current tech Jobs is walking in armed with major-league cool. I'm sure Gates is hoping this new techno-thingie will let him talk about new Microsoft developments without audience members snickering.