Los Angeles (CA) - As the first waves of attendees and presenters gathered here yesterday for preliminary seminars at Microsoft’s 2005 Professional Developers’ Conference, discussions were overheard among the show’s crowd of software developers not only about how the Windows platform is changing, but for how long parts of it can reliably stay the same. This morning, Tom’s Hardware Guide kicks off its ongoing daily coverage of PDC 2005.

You may be wondering, what is a "Hardware Guide" doing covering a convention of software developers ? What happens here with regard to the Windows software platform directly influences the future of hardware platforms, including the ones you build and maintain. It was at this conference two years ago that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled the Longhorn project, along with such unanticipated and still controversial components as the WinFS file subsystem. Now two years later, both the PDC crowd of software developers, as well as hardware engineers worldwide who are more likely to frequent WinHEC than PDC, are wondering whether we’ll learn more about how all the puzzle pieces that Gates introduced two years ago, will finally fit together.

Tuesday may be the biggest news day of the week, when we have our best chance to learn more about the five-year timeframe. Until then, here are the Flashpoints we’ll be watching for - the stories we’ll be keeping a close watch on hour-by-hour up through Friday of this week :

Will Longhorn Server lose its horns ? Last month, the client edition of next-generation Windows formally became Windows Vista. Along with the name change came a more concrete plan with regard to the features and services the new system will contain, some of which remain missing even from the first betas. As Microsoft continues to roll out its aggressive new vision for Web services - small software components that use standardized Internet-based transports rather than Windows’ traditional COM protocols - a richer and bolder feature set is not only expected, but mandated, for Longhorn Server. If a clearer picture of Longhorn Server - at least, a clear enough "vista" to match its client-side companion - doesn’t emerge here this week, that will be a story in and of itself. Developers are concerned about the dangerous left turn Microsoft has made in its software vision, not only appearing to embrace, but also starting to drive open standards - the market space usually reserved in the public mind for Sun and Novell. They may not be likely to embrace Microsoft’s course change until they’re given a much clearer picture of where that change is leading.

What performance factors will drive the evolution of hardware ? Like it or not, most owners of Intel- or AMD-based computers are running Windows. Although Linux continues to gain some ground on Windows, no single Linux vendor today has anywhere close to the influence on hardware standards as Microsoft. That influence has not always been of the positive variety : The single biggest factor driving the need for performance improvements in hardware platforms has been the predictable, reliable, and almost counted upon bloating trend that has characterized Windows since version 3.0 premiered in 1990. The overhead required for today’s Windows is colossal, especially from a Linux-based point of view. But at least theoretically, Microsoft’s shift towards implementing more open standards for applications developers should signal the start of a "diet and exercise regimen" for Windows - a shift toward smaller and more efficient components that could, if done right, reduce the bloat. But with Intel having already made its own left turn toward power conservation and performance-perwatt as its substitute yardstick for CPU capability, the only factor left for driving the need to upgrade one’s PC - the one factor that many analysts say keeps Dell in business - may actually be in jeopardy here. If Windows really does begin an architectural shift towards conservation and efficiency, following in Intel’s wake, at least theoretically the lifespan of existing and older PCs may be extended. Which is why news from Sydney, Australia, last week that a Microsoft strategist there stated Vista will run optimally on a 2 GByte system with at least 256 MByte of video RAM, may be treated by some as welcome news.

What’s the deal with Monad ? Simultaneous reports of the rescue and of the demise of the new Microsoft Command Shell - what many perceive as the replacement for the DOS command line, and a "Swiss army knife" for system administrators - make it seem to some readers that portions of the Internet are produced in separate universes. Wednesday, Microsoft developer Jeffrey Snover will deliver yet another demonstration of the tool which appears to be splitting Microsoft down the middle into two camps, one of which clearly isn’t interested in seeing a not only effective but potentially devastating administrator’s tool, made generally available as an alternative to the safer, more marshaled Microsoft Management Console. MSH may yet be released as part of Longhorn Server in 2007 and it may not, though a final decision has yet to be reached, as our sources continue to tell us. If MSH (codename "Monad") is made generally available in any form - even as a download package from Microsoft.com, and not shipped with the operating system - a new, and yet more familiar, way to manage an often monstrous system may completely change the way enterprise networks are managed. Subsequently, the definition of what it means to be a Microsoft system administrator (think "certification") may also change, as a sizable number of skilled admins may prefer the command line over the hand-held, Wizard-rich "user interface."

How will Microsoft respond to Google ? The biggest companies in any market are almost automatically deemed competitors with one another. With the rapid rise of Google outpacing what we all remember to have been the rapid rise of Netscape, market analysts see Google’s continued "organic growth" pattern - aggressively rolling out new free services that rapidly attract customers, while building directly onto the company’s core service of answering questions - as a natural threat to Microsoft. But Microsoft’s rapid expansion into Web services, and its push toward the adoption of new applications standards, may very well be that company’s answer to Google’s perceived threat. There’s a series of new dots in the Microsoft landscape, and Microsoft isn’t a company that perforates its landscape with dots without at least a plan to connect them all. The company’s Web services push may be connected with its drive toward a new XML-based standard for corporate documents, which we’ll also learn more about on Wednesday, as well as its experiments with Asynchronous JavaScript (AJAX) - the language used by Google to build its new Maps and Google Earth services. Conceivably, a Web services-based distributed search system, whose console is based in AJAX, could extend the Office 12 XML document model throughout corporate enterprises, the intention being to unify query and retrieval services around the WinFS platform, expanding search capabilities while paving a new route for businesses to bypass Google.

A change in network topology ? Large enterprise networks typically divide their resource pools among "internal" and "external" servers, the former serving applications, the latter serving the Web. Both classes of servers typically utilize different models of maintenance and service, including load balancing and access security. But with a shift to Internet-based transport protocols driving the new applications model, suddenly the distinction between the two classes of servers becomes a lot fuzzier. As a result, server suppliers such as Dell, HP, and IBM have to start thinking differently about how their customers will view the topologies of their networks going forward into the Vista/Longhorn era, and how they’ll have to update their product offerings as a result.

What happens to .NET ? Still the company’s alternative platform to Java, reports of .NET’s demise have apparently also been greatly exaggerated. Still, with leading developers dissuading their peers from trying to develop Web services using .NET’s "just-in-time" compiling model, and with Vista’s new Windows Communications Foundation ("Indigo") making it possible for Web services to host themselves rather than rely upon Internet Information Services - which we now know is being phased out - exactly what role is the new .NET Framework 2.0 expected to provide, besides holding up the anti-Java front ?

One more piece in the puzzle ? We’ve already been introduced to Vista’s new "Foundations" for Web services (WCF) as well as Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF, codenamed "Avalon") which provides the new underlying 3D graphics model to replace GDI. Is there yet another foundation to which we have yet to be introduced - specifically, a core services model that could eventually replace the venerable Component Object Model, and fulfill Microsoft’s stated goal of rendering the bloated System Registry obsolete in five years ? If such a model is forthcoming, we should know tomorrow, by way of keynote presentations from Bill Gates and colleagues. If such a model is not forthcoming, and COM remains in place, we should also know that tomorrow ; because once the five-year timetable for implementing all of Windows’ new foundations is made clear, or at least clearer then the window for any groundbreaking new enhancements to the system for this decade will likely be closed.

These are the core issues which we’ll be following hour-by-hour throughout the week in Los Angeles, here in Tom’s Hardware Guide . Be sure to stay in touch with us as PDF 2005 continues.