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WinHEC 2008: Bag yes, hard drive no

WinHEC attendees get a laptop bag, unlike those at last week's professional developer conference. That said, their copy of Windows 7 will come on DVD, rather than the hard drive that PDC folks got.

Ina Fried Former Staff writer, CNET News
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley.
Ina Fried

LOS ANGELES--Attendees at this year's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) will get at least one thing that folks at Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference didn't get--a laptop bag.

WinH'EC attendees check what's inside their conference bag. Hint: It's not a hard drive. Ina Fried/CNET News

There were some grumbles last week about the cheap nylon bag that served as the conference bag. But, then, those at the PDC also walked away with a portable hard drive packed with code. WinHEC folks are only getting DVDs, I'm told.

The conference is expected to largely reiterate the Windows 7 news from last week, albeit with a bigger hardware focus.

The show floor doesn't open up for a little bit yet, with a giant projector set to display MSNBC so folks won't have to forgo election results to get in their networking time. In the meantime, a crowd has gathered around a kiosk displaying a host of laptops running Windows 7, including several Netbooks.

The keynote speeches start Wednesday morning, with Steven Sinofsky and Jon DeVaan talking Windows 7, while Bill Laing is set to talk Thursday about the next server release, built on the Windows 7 code, but to be called Windows Server 2008 R2.

Click here for more news on Windows 7.

Early arrivals at WinHEC check out an assortment of Windows 7 laptops, including several Netbooks. Ina Fried/CNET News