Microsoft to Drop Kimono on Windows 7 Pre-Beta

Microsoft is in somewhat of an awkward position; the company must begin to ready the market for the Windows 7 OS at the same time it is still having difficulty convincing businesses to migrate from Windows XP to Windows Vista. It's not unusual to find solution providers, or their customers, who say they expect a broad portion of Microsoft's market to try to hold off migrating from XP to Vista in the hopes they can shoot straight to Windows 7.

Among those features to be highlighted for developers at the conference, Microsoft has been working to put its own signature on "touch computing" by, among other things, touting its Surface platform this year. Rival Apple has also been working on touch technology, beginning with its iPhone and iPod Touch. By the time this developers conference wraps up this month, we could have a better idea of whether Microsoft is ready to wage an all-out fight with Apple over touch technology on the PC.