Phew.

For a minute I thought I was going crazy.

See, back in May I wrote about the new Microsoft product called "Surface" (see Microsoft Surface). In fact, I think what I said was, "Wow, that new Microsoft thing is really cool."

Well, don't fret - this Apple boy isn't losing it and falling to the dark side. It appears that this whole "Surface" thing is buggier than, well, Vista. At least, according to an Engadget report.

Microsoft does admit that Surface is having a hard time "making it past the prototype stage". Now they're anticipating a 2008 release.

Oops. Maybe you shouldn't have rushed out the website and videos then.

No, I'm sure the reason that they did rush the website and videos was to try and steal thunder from Apple's iPod touch, which uses a similar multi-touch interface. But that right there is the huge difference between Microsoft and Apple - Microsoft hypes the next big thing before it's ready, Apple develops in secret, releases it to the market, and then the hype machine revs up.

Example - Windows Vista was started in development at Microsoft (as "Longhorn") in 2001, with an anticipated release of 2003. It eventually was released on January 30, 2007.

And don't even give me that crap that Apple did the same thing with the iPhone and Apple TV - announcing them both on January 9, 2007 and shipping the Apple TV on March 21 and the iPhone on June 29. Those were regulatory-related delays, nevermind the fact that announcing them at the MacWorld Expo made sense. It's not like they announced the iPhone at the 2002 MacWorld Expo ...