EIC podcast: Vista; Midori; Microhoo; iPhone

On this week's EIC squared podcast, Ed Bott, one of our Microsoft gurus, fills in for the allegedly vacationing Dan Farber, who apparently IMs and emails as usual while reportedly away. I chat with Ed Bott about whether Microsoft's "we're not going to take it" routine with Vista will work. We also talk about Microsoft's Midori project, the latest in the Microhoo saga and the launch of the 3G iPhone on Friday.

First up, Microsoft said it was going to fight back about the Vista perception issues. Ed (right) questioned whether Microsoft will be successful, but did note that Vista today is a lot different than the one that launched initially. In fact, it works now. I joked that Microsoft's marketing pitch should be something like "Vista: We got it right this time."

On Midori, Microsoft's next-next generation OS, Ed gave us a few more details. The backstory is interesting and there will be some converging code names as these newfangled operating systems with modules and hopefully multithreaded features emerge.

And then there's the latest in the Microhoo saga. Microsoft and Carl Icahn are ganging up on Jerry Yang and Yahoo. Yang is fighting back. How long can Yang hold out?

Finally, there's the iPhone. The reviews are decent, the anticipation is high, but there are some significant wild cards to consider. Of course, Apple will sell a bunch of them, but enthusiasm for the 3G iPhone does seem a little muted compared to the usual circus (all ZDNet, News.com and CNET coverage).