It's always nice when a giant, billion-dollar company can make fun of itself. It's even nicer when they crack jokes about themselves at the expense of their competitors.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a top Microsoft exec called Apple's new iOS4 "the company's Vista."

"It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I'm okay with that," said Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer, in a keynote speech at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), which runs through Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Everyone seems to be paying a lot of attention these days to the battle between Google and Apple.

Maybe it's the fact that the smart phone battle is so interesting or maybe it's because the two companies used to be so close (and shared board members).

But the battle between Google and Microsoft is now heating up with some fascinating implications.

Google famously banned Windows this week because it blames Microsoft for a security breach.

Microsoft has come out firing releasing blog posts citing their continued efforts in improving security.

Obviously, Windows has some security issues that mainly arise because it's the main target.

Give a room full of hackers an hour with Google's rumored Chrome operating system and we will see how secure their OS is.

Time will tell.