That statement was posted to Thursday afternoon. Poor Trip Chowdhry; bet that guy won't be allowed out of his cubicle again anytime soon.

Now, to be fair, the crew from Microsoft didn't technically deny that someone from the company could speak at Apple's conference; they just said Ballmer himself would not. So we'll see what happens. Bill Gates has actually shared the stage with Apple , so some type of presence wouldn't be completely unprecedented.

Still, it's a damn shame about Steve. A Ballmer-Jobs "" duet would have been sublime.

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