Over the weekend, the inimitable, and nearly always infallible, Jon Gruber cracked wise about a post that featured Microsofties enacting a fake funeral dirge for Windows Phone 7 competitors BlackBerry and iPhone. Before you read on I invite you to read his piece and follow through to the included link to the video itself. Get a good laugh, especially from the oddly well-synchronized "Thriller" line dance, and come on back.

Aside from evoking gentle, or not so gentle, memories of elementary school Halloween costume parades (yes, I did wear a Darth Vader outfit and, yes, I nearly passed out from the heavy breathing required for the full effect), the net take-away from the videos for me was a sizable "What were they thinking?"

I'm all for company camaraderie and there's no doubt the Windows Phone 7 crew deserves a party for what was surely a year+ of little sunlight, deadline pressure, and endless caffeine, but the suggestion that somehow the launch of the new Windows mobile OS is the death knell, much less in direct opposition of, iOS and RIM's BlackBerry OS is not only premature, it's wrong.

As Gruber and others have rightfully pointed out, Android is the OS on the march and literally eating Microsoft's lunch. Survey after survey point to Android's rise to the top of the smart-device pile in North America. Android is gaining the attention of not only end-users, but the developers eager to make money off of them. Carriers are quickly embracing Android's friendly licensing model, eager to replicate the iPhone's success on AT&T with a slew of Android devices. And licensing is the hill upon which Microsoft is going to have to fight Google if it is to win. Anyone want to place a bet on Microsoft's ability to quickly and easily trump Android's licensing terms?

In case you're wondering, Android charges hardware OEM's zero $ to license its base software vs. a rumored $15 per phone for Windows Phone 7. Now there are solid arguments that there additional, hidden costs to implementing Android, but that's still a gap and one would be hard-pressed to view Microsoft as playing anything but catch-up in this segment.

All of which brings me back to the funeral procession. My word of advice for Microsoft would be this: Don't count chickens (Vista) before they hatch. Rather than endure some less-than-positive PR and leave partners wondering where the beef is, just give your Windows Phone 7 crew a well-deserved week off and get back to your launch plans.