by Larry Richman
May 16, 2007 1:24 PM

WinHEC 2005 saw the launch of x64. It was a lot of fun for us to be one of the 64 x64 ambassadors that year. Last year's WinHEC coincided with the release of Windows Vista Beta 2.

So here we are in Los Angeles for WinHEC 2007, and the news so far has been the announcement that Windows Longhorn Server will be called Windows Server 2008. But wait, hadn't we posted that last weekend? (Beta 3 was handed out to the attendees here). Hmm...well, there has been some exciting information about Windows Home Server. And new hardware has also been unveiled to take advantage of the Windows Vista platform and innovations. But no blockbuster announcements, to be sure.

That said, what makes an event like this worth attending has nothing to do with what you hear on the news or see on the web. Our presence here is really about what goes on behind the scenes, away from the scrutiny of the public. It's the opportunity to rub elbows with the top managers at Microsoft and those responsible for helping to fix those issues and solve those challenges that our members come here to post about every day. More than anything, we are a news and technology support site, and at least since Windows Vista became generally available 100 days ago it's about Windows Vista support.

To that end, we've spent the bulk of our time here giving feedback about what you, our members, have been commenting/complaining/asking about. In fact, we've been approached with the question, "So what are the problems you're seeing?" more than I've had to seek out anyone from MS to tell them that. They're soliciting our concerns, and listening. A lot.

Prior to my trip here, I took a good look at our forums to see what the primary concerns were. The same questions were being asked over and over again. Many dealt with boot problems and could actually be solved by using VistaBootPRO. The majority, though, have been problems with drivers. The good news is that the problems you're encountering are well known to the powers-that-be and are being addressed. Your concerns have not fallen upon deaf ears and I've repeated the same messages over and over. They are listening. I've even been approached with questions and comments and compliments about VistaBootPRO. So the tables have been turned here a bit compared to previous events and that is, in the end, what is making this trip worth it.

Vista's ability to send back details about hardware issues to Microsoft is making a big difference compared to issues surrounding previous operating systems. They are very well aware of the challenges and frustrations you're having.

Vendors are being pressured to make the effort to issue drivers for older devices, despite the possible economic disincentives to do so. It's a touchy subject. And software incompatibilities are becoming fewer and fewer. They even mentioned the word "iTunes" in the keynote today, and that's not a trivial thing.

So the big story is...well...it's all behind the scenes. Under the hood, as it were, just like Vista. And while it may not make for exciting headlines or feverish blogging, a lot is being accomplished here for our members. And that's really what it's all about.