Windows Hardware Engineering Conference

The Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) is the annual software developer-oriented trade show and business conference where Microsoft elaborates on its hardware plans for Microsoft Windows-compatible PCs.

It commonly features speeches from people such as Bill Gates, and generally has several sponsors including Intel, AMD, ATI etc.

Audience
According to Microsoft, the WinHEC conference is aimed at:


 * Hardware engineers and hardware designers interested in hardware or Windows architecture.
 * Driver developers and testers interested in the Windows Driver Foundation and other driver architecture and tools.
 * Higher-ups including managers who want to know more about advances in technology and business strategies.

Events

 * 2005 – Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle, Washington. April 25-27, 2005.
 * Bill Gates gave a keynote speech on various topics including Windows "Longhorn" (known later as Windows Vista) and 64-bit computing.
 * 2006 – Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle, Washington. May 23-25, 2006. Attendance of more than 3,700.
 * Microsoft announced the release of beta 2 of Windows Vista, Windows Server "Longhorn" and Microsoft Office 2007.
 * The Free Software Foundation staged a protest outside the venue, wearing yellow hazmat suits and handing out pamphlets claiming that Microsoft products are "defective by design" because of the Digital Rights Management technologies included in them.
 * 2007 – Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, California. May 15-17, 2007.