Get ready for Microsoft's PDC

With less than two weeks until Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference kicks off in Los Angeles, news is starting to trickle out.

Come October 27, that trickle will turn into a flood. Here at CNET News we want to make sure you keep your head above water. To that end, our PDC page is already up and running.

(Credit: Microsoft)

You can bookmark that page and be sure that whenever you check it you will be up on the latest PDC-related info as well as catch any stories on the products expected to make headlines at the show.

Already there are a ton of posts up, including our scoop on the Surface developer kit, the latest on Windows 7 along with what little we know about Windows Cloud, or Windows Strata, or whatever Microsoft's "Cloud OS" will eventually come to be known as.

Once the show gets under way, check back for in-depth keynote coverage, executive interviews, photo galleries, videos, and more.

In the meantime, feel free to drop me a note on what you want to see covered. I'll also be answering questions on Friday as part of CNET's Editor's Office Hours feature.

[Mr. Dee]

I would like to know how Microsoft plans to work with ISVs, IHVs around Windows 7 64 bit, to increase its adoption among OEMs and consumers. Will Microsoft take a preference promoting one platform more aggressively over the other? 64-bit Windows 7 is way to go type marketing?

[maverick_nick]

From what I've heard or at least read is that you'll see more and more 64 bit installations on the market. From that I gather that Microsoft is already driving 64 bit.

[Penguinisto]

Until 64-bit gets enough backing from app and hardware makers, it ain't gonna happen.

Hardware makers are almost there, but it's the apps that will lag behind for quite awhile.

Apple has been subtly pushing 64-bit ever since the G5 processors came out, and had to do a very delicate dance to get the app makers to come along for the ride (see also Adobe's whining and moaning about it at various times). They'll finally reach what they've been looking to do by this year or next... most apps come out for OSX as 64-bit native now.

Microsoft is going to have it a bit harder - their only hope for such a change now is to have the tools and APIs that ease the transition... but even then that's no guarantee.

It was easier (relatively) going from 16 to 32 bit architecture. The code didn't require much of an overhaul because Windows had a decent 16-bit emulation engine, the market was smaller, and app makers actually craved the space and features that 32 bit computing had.

Nowadays there's a metric ton of legacy apps that are 32-bit only, and judging by Vista, 32-bit emulation on a 64-bit Windows platform, well, sucks.

/P

[DrtyDogg]

a lot of OEM's are shipping Vista 64 already. Take a stroll through CC and you'll see as many if not more 64bit laptops than 32bit laptops. As for "and judging by Vista, 32-bit emulation on a 64-bit Windows platform, well, sucks." Funny never had a problem with any 32bit app runing on Vista 64. WOW64 does a remarkable job. The only trouble I've ever seen with an app on Vista 64 is if the application requires a driver of some sort, which will obviously fail if it is 32bit only. Try it before you blast it.