Much has been made in the last 24 hours about Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer's vague references to a Microsoft tablet competitor to the iPad.

Here's a secret: in the world of online media, sometimes writers (like me) need to stretch a few sentences into a story, even if, well, there isn't much of a story. Like it or not, it's our job. Here are the Ballmer quotes from yesterday's Microsoft financial analysts meeting that we, the media, are basing the hype and promise of a Microsoft tablet on:

"They'll be shipping as soon as they are ready. And it is job one urgency. No one is sleeping at the switch."

Sounds promising! In fact, it sounds like a promise. So, Microsoft is finally making a tablet – will it be a Zune-family piece of hardware? Not so fast.

"Just like we had to make things happen on netbooks, we've got to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates. And we are in the process of doing that as we speak. We're working with our hardware partners, we're tuning Windows 7 to new slate hardware designs that they're bringing them to market."

Hmm. So Microsoft is basically just shipping Windows 7 and having "hardware partners" make the tablet. Not only will this device not be a Zune, but it seems like there will be several iterations. This sounds an awful lot like the way Microsoft develops operating systems for PCs and then lets hardware vendors build the machines. In other words, it's business as usual.

People: Microsoft is not making a tablet. The gang in Redmond is developing an operating system. When Archos comes out with an Android-based device, who gets credited with making the device? Google? Nope, and there's no difference here.

The real story to be gleaned from these quotes, if there is one, is that Microsoft learned its lesson with the Zune and is staying away from the hardware side of things. The Zune HD is a fantastic portable media player – a worthy Apple iPod touch competitor which I gave a glowing review on this very site last fall.

Its problem, however, is a metaphor for Microsoft's overall conundrum: The Zune line took too long to develop into a great device (the first players were bulky and no match for iPods) and by the time it did, Apple's iTunes empire of products and apps had such dominance over the market that even great devices from big players like Microsoft and Sony couldn't make a dent.

It's not that Microsoft didn't offer a stellar product, it's that the product came two years late – a weak response to Apple's 2007 hits, the iPhone and the iPod touch.

You can learn a lot about what the richest corporations in the world are capable of by watching how they adapt. The Zune line was a response to the iPod line, but too late to make an impact. Timing is everything, and Microsoft simply doesn't have – or won't devote – the resources to be competitive or lead in the hardware field in a timely manner. Microsoft only seems to respond.

If Microsoft releases a new Zune this year, it won't surprise me, but they know just as well as anyone that the "MP3 player" war was won long ago by Apple. Initially, the rumor was that Microsoft's tablet plan would include the Courier, a device that supposedly would have two multi-touch screens. The project was abandoned. Now Ballmer's response to the iPad is to continue improving its operating system and let its partners build, sell and market the tablets. It's a clever way to stay relevant in the tablet era without actually having to make one: stick to your strengths, develop the software.

Vague power-statements like "we are coming full guns" – another gem from Thursday's event – sound a lot like empty political rhetoric. What does it mean? We didn't get a reference to one specific piece of hardware for consumers, but we did find out that Microsoft won't be manufacturing one.

I suppose you have to say something to investors and financial analysts, but if you analyze Ballmer's words, the story is that there is no story. If he announced a new tablet, that would've been a story. Announcing that Microsoft is continuing down a familiar path and "tuning" an OS so that other companies can make tablets? Not so much. And if you made it this far: this is how you write a story about a non-story. Like it or not, it's our job.