Google-Microsoft Next Skirmish: Netbooks?

Microsoft (MSFT Quote) and Google (GOOG Quote) don't really play well together. I'm not saying that one software company's goods work with the others. I'm just stating the obvious here: These two bitter rivals don't like each other. Period.

These feelings go back a ways. Four years ago, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer was saying things like: "Google might disappear in the next five years." Two years ago, Ballmer called Google a "one trick pony" because of its search-engine dominance.

And just two weeks ago, Ballmer called Google Apps (an online office software suite) "overpriced." In an interview with CBS Interactive's Cnet(CBS Quote), Microsoft's boss said: "Google is neither free nor low cost. That's not a joke. We're talking about the enterprise. We're not talking about some screwball consumer thing now. We're talking about the enterprise. Google charges a very hefty price, comparable to our prices, when it comes to the enterprise."

On the other side of the equation, Google hasn't really had nice things to say about Microsoft either. In a recent news release from a corporate lawyer, Google claimed that Microsoft's interest in Yahoo!(YHOO Quote) "raised a troubling question" about antitrust law violations. I could go on and on.

But now, online news sites are talking about the possibility of a Google Netbook mini-computer that runs on the Android operating system. Would this be a big threat to Microsoft -- or Apple(AAPL Quote) -- or any company using Linux on small computers?