Microsoft: No e-Readers for us, thanks

All of Silicon Valley may be Cupertino dreamin' of Kindles and other tantalizing tablets, but Microsoft says it wants nothing to do with the ever-expanding electronic reader market. The always-enthusiastic Steve Ballmer dropped the bomb while visiting a Netherlands university Thursday, according to a report published by Reuters.

"We have a device for reading," the big B is quoted as saying. "It's the most popular device in the world -- it's the PC."

Ballmer reportedly said Microsoft has no need for its own separate e-reader device, going as far as to add that he wished Amazon and other digital book providers would make their content available on PCs, too.

The news is likely to rain on the parade of analysts and pundits who have been predicting an upcoming lap by Microsoft in the great e-reader race. The company has been rumored to be developing a "top-secret" tablet called the Courier for some time, and -- as is the case with Apple's thus-far-mythical device -- many have been calling for the Courier to revolve around core e-reader capabilities. Some speculation has suggested the Courier would even look like a book, though other reports have surmised it may act as more of an electronic journal of sorts.

Aside from today's new Ballmer bit, however, all of that -- even the Courier's very existence -- is little more than a bunch of talk. In fact, you could throw the Courier into a blender with Apple's tablet and that crazy ol' CrunchPad and make yourself a nice thick shake of Who-Knows-If-It'll-Ever-Be-Released.

That might just go nicely with the Wikipedia-flavored beef dish I hear they're serving over in New England this week.

JR Raphael is the executive chef at eSarcasm, his gourmet kitchen of geek humor. You can keep up with him on Twitter: @jr_raphael.

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