“It could be one of Steve Ballmer’s riskiest trade show moves in years,” Ashlee Vance reports for The New York Times. “On Wednesday, Mr. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, will unveil a novel take on a slate-type computer during his evening keynote at the Consumer Electronics trade show in Las Vegas, according to people familiar with Microsoft’s plans. The slate will be made by Hewlett-Packard and possibly available by mid-year, these people said.”

MacDailyNews Take: Oh, we so can’t wait for this to play out!

Vance reports, “This product better be good because Apple is expected to unveil its take on the slate/tablet form-factor later this month. If history holds, Apple will issue a product that surprises people in a few ways and that stands out from the crowd. So, the last thing Mr. Ballmer wants to hold up is a me-too type device.”

Vance reports, “Mr. Ballmer will present a video of the as yet unnamed H.P. device. The product will be touted as a multi-media whiz with e-reader and multi-touch functions.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: A video?! Sounds like a typical, albeit particularly weak, Microsoft vaporware dog and pony show meant to freeze a market in which Microsoft and their “partners” have repeatedly failed (or, more likely, a market that Microsoft et al. cannot even imagine) and that Apple will, with history as our guide, revolutionize (or create) and then utterly dominate as a slew of also-rans scramble to produce half-assed copies.

Expect Microsoft’s presentation to be purposely vague (“Features can and will change before release,” Ballmer will mention), so that they can watch Apple’s tablet presentation and begin their process of copying poorly yet again.