His latest target? The much-ballyhooed , of course. According to , Ballmer today attempted to shrug off Google's Web-centric operating system while addressing a Microsoft technology partners' conference in New Orleans:

"'Who knows what this thing is? To me, the Chrome OS thing is highly interesting,' said Ballmer, choosing his words carefully and drawing more amusement from the largely pro-Microsoft crowd."

While promising to be "respectful" and not outright trash the mysterious Chrome OS, Ballmer did point out that Google's desktop operating system won't ship for a year and a half, a fact that relegates it to the for now.

Ballmer also knocked Google for developing two client operating systems: , which is gaining traction as an OS for and maybe ; and Chrome OS, which will debut on netbooks and-market willing--migrate to notebooks and desktops to challenge Windows 7 across the PC spectrum.

According to Reuters, Ballmer implied that Google's OS efforts lack focus: