Andy Rubin and Joe Belfiore—Google’s Android chief and Microsoft’s VP for the Windows Phone Program respectively—verbally sparred over the state of mobile software at the All Things Digital: Dive Into Mobile Conference. However, after reading the quote-by-blow report from Wall Street Journal it seems that they’re actually talking about slightly different things.

While Mr. Rubin said he thinks Windows Phone 7 is a “good 1.0 product,” he added that he thinks Windows Phone 7 has a legacy problem that’s holding the product back from true innovation.

“There’s some stuff that’s 20 years old in Windows Phone 7,” Mr. Rubin said. “You have this package of stuff that was invented before the Internet. It gives us a speed advantage. We can adapt and be more agile.”

Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, the corporate VP for Windows Phone Program Management and Design, fought back the next day, saying he suspects Android has similarly old code based on Linux.

Mr. Belfiore admitted that there may be some old code, but he said it in no way impedes the company’s ability to innovate or serve as a base for cutting edge handsets.

“It is true that we have a kernel that has been around for a long time,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

What Belfiore seems to have done is equivocated old code with old thinking. Both Google Android and the Windows Phone 7 contain very old code in their deepest processes, programmers rarely if-ever reinvent the wheel when they don’t have to and if something works really well it won’t get replaced until something comes along that’s actually superior. Except that the “stuff” to which Andy Rubin seems to be referring isn’t just code, but its frameworks that don’t take into account an Internet and mobile paradigm.

True or not, the accusation certainly struck a nerve.

Why Rubin felt the need to take a swipe at Microsoft, however, seems a bit unnecessary. Android, Blackberry, and iOS devices currently dominate the market, whereas Windows Phone 7 is still a Johnny-come-lately trying to take bites out of their own market niche. They don’t really represent much of a threat to any of the current dominant mobile species.

Although, it seems that Rubin is becoming well-known for being willing to bicker with other executives. Perhaps this is his way of keeping the industry hopping and alive with drama?

It certainly makes good press, although really the market is going to be the final determination of who gets to walk away with the champion title.