Pre-beta of Windows 7 for attendees of PDC and WinHEC.
Microsoft is to let attendees of two forthcoming conferences get an early test run of Windows 7, the next version of its desktop client.
The company said that a pre-beta version of Windows 7 will be made available to those attending the Professional Developer Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles on 27-30 October, and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), also in Los Angeles on 5-7 November.
At PDC there will also be numerous sessions for developers that drill down into the details of building applications for Windows 7, while WinHEC has more of a focus on engineers building systems and peripherals that will need to interface with Windows 7.
Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista, is still expected to ship in late 2009 or early 2010.