and the very next day tells Microsoft to take its Windows 7 tablet and stick it where even Steve Ballmer can't sweat all over it -- at least, that's what . Employing his patented , the Crunchie One is claiming HP put a bullet into the temple of its Windows 7 Slate -- you remember, .

HP has not confirmed or denied this, as far as I can tell. It seems . to ditch a longtime partner, even one that on a semi-regular basis. Build two slates, one with Windows, one with another operating system (Palm's WebOS, Google Android, Google Chrome), maybe. Just kill Windows outright for a competitor? Imagine the phone call from Ballmer. Or you don't have to -- you'd probably be able to hear it from wherever you're sitting. I'm not buying flowers for this funeral just yet.

In more tablet news, Microsoft has officially "killed" Courier, that nifty two-sided tablet that , and then only in . Naturally, Gizmodo was the first to report on Courier's demise, but at least they got Microsoft to confirm the project actually existed. Still, doesn't something first have to be alive before it's officially dead?

Back in the old days, publications that reported on products in development but never saw the light of day were accused, and rightly so, of promoting vaporware. Now in the new facts-optional world of blogging, that earns you kudos for two scoops: first that the product is coming, and then that it isn't.