Windows Hardware Engineering Conference

Logo for the 2005 WinHEC

The Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) was an annual software and hardware developer-oriented trade show and business conference, held from 1992 to 2008, where Microsoft elaborated on its hardware plans for Microsoft Windows-compatible PCs. It commonly featured speeches from people such as Bill Gates, and generally had several sponsors including Intel, AMD, ATI and others.^[1]

After 2008, WinHEC was replaced in Microsoft's schedule by the Professional Developers Conference, later merged into the Build conference.

On September 26, 2014, Microsoft announced that WinHEC will be returning in 2015 in the form of multiple conferences held through out the year.^[2] The first conference is going to be held in Shenzhen, China on March 18 to 19. The WinHEC acronym has changed its meaning to the Windows Hardware Engineering Community.

Audience

According to Microsoft, the WinHEC conference was aimed at:^[3]

• Hardware engineers and hardware designers interested in hardware on 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

• 1992 – San Francisco, California. March 1-3, 1992
• 1993 – San Jose, California. March 1-3, 1993
• 1994 – San Francisco, California. February 23-25, 1994
• 1995 – Los Angeles, California. March 20-22, 1995
• 1996 – San Jose, California. April 1-3, 1996
• 1997 – San Francisco, California. April 8-10, 1997
• 1998 – Orlando, Florida. March 25-27, 1998
• 1999 – Los Angeles, California. April 7-9, 1999
• 2000 – New Orleans, Louisiana. April 25-27, 2000
• 2001 – Anaheim, California. March 26–28, 2001.
  • Announcement of the availability of Windows XP Beta 2, which includes the first public beta of Internet Explorer 6.^[4]
• 2002 – Seattle, Washington. April 16–18, 2002.
• 2003 – New Orleans, Louisiana. May 6–8, 2003.
  • Bill Gates keynote; demonstrated "Athens" PC concept, discussed 64-bit computing, uptake of Windows XP.^[5]
  • Initial Windows Longhorn demonstrations and discussions, focusing on a new Desktop Composition Engine (which later became known as the Desktop Window Manager)^[6]
• 2004 – Seattle, Washington. May 4–7, 2004.^[7]
  • Discussion of Longhorn release timeline and upcoming service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
  • Updated Athens concept PC design, named "Troy" based on a Longhorn user interface
• 2005 – Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle, Washington. April 25–27, 2005.^[8]
  • 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.^[3]
  • 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.^[9]
• 2007 – Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, California. May 15–17, 2007.^[3]
• 2008 – Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, California. November 4–6, 2008.^[10]
  • Immediately following PDC 2008, held at the same venue, October 27–30.
  • Focusing on the then upcoming Windows 7.

References

External links

Main

• WinHEC official homepage

2006

• Press materials from WinHEC 2006
• Online videos etc. from WinHEC 2006

2005

• WinSuperSite show report for WinHEC 2005
• WinHEC 2005: Microsoft's 64 Bit Promises