Ballmer: Could netbooks rescue Microsoft after all?

Dow Jones is reporting this afternoon that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made comments to financial analysts in New York this morning, reiterating his company's warning of continued weakness in the negative economy, coupled with uncertainty as to the degree or extent of the ill effects.

According to the Associated Press, Ballmer went on to say that his company's strategy out of this dark period will resemble that of one of America's former technology giants, RCA, when it resorted to investing heavily in research that enabled the US to become the leader in television production after the end of World War II. As an example, Ballmer -- according to the AP -- appeared to change course on a key technology, alluding to the possibility that Windows 7 could eventually appear on netbooks, and even referring to "netbooks" by name -- something Microsoft spokespersons had earlier been cautioned not to do.