Last week he dismissed Facebook as another GeoCities. Now he’s gone and branded Google as Big Brother.

“Our Windows Live Hotmail, in and of itself, doesn’t generate much ad revenue,” Ballmer told an audience at the Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program in the United Kingdom. “So we’ve had to put, essentially, a whole portal around it because the traffic around it is very valuable but it’s not very easily monetized in the context of mail. Google’s had the same experience, even though they read your mail and we don’t. That’s just a factual statement, not even to be pejorative. The theory was if we read your mail, if somebody read your mail, they would know what to talk to you about. It’s not working out as brilliantly as the concept was laid out.”

And hey–don’t forget brand confusion. Because Microsoft’s Windows Live set of products also includes a desktop email client–Windows Live Mail Desktop–and it’s got a new name, too: Windows Live Mail. Apparently Microsoft Live has exceptionally high brand recall … in its own Marketing and Development division.