WinHEC, of all events, isn’t the most obvious place for open source enthusiasts to flock to. For years the legacy style Windows hardware engineering conference has been the forum where Microsoft leaning software developers learn specifically how to write their system code and device drivers for the Windows platform. But things are different this year.

Virtualization will be one of the major themes in Seattle (the show starts tomorrow, Tuesday 23rd) – and virtualization could potentially eliminate a lot the custom coding those WinHEC regulars need to cut. It also weakens the ties between the hardware and the OS, opening the doors to more widespread Linux deployment. At WinHEC, Microsoft will reportedly announce that the release schedule for “Viridian”, its virtualization hypervisor, will be moved up – in contrast to the recent delays in Longhorn, Vista and Office – and might now appear, at least as a private beta, by year-end rather than having to wait for Longhorn Server R2, due (perhaps) in 2009. With Xen rapidly gaining mindshare, Microsoft has to act faster if it’s to remain a contender. It’s also expected to announce “Carmine”, a virtualization management platform.

Perhaps most intriguing of all, the rumors are that Microsoft is in talks to acquire desktop virtualization startup Softricity, with which it has already developed “Virtual DLL”, a way of resolving dynamic link library conflicts (or “DLL hell“) within applications that have dogged Microsoft for years.
 
If anyone doubts the relevance this all has to open source, they need only stay on in Seattle an extra two days after WinHEC closes to attend an intriguing shadow event. FreedomHEC starts on Friday 26th with the aim of “taking back the PC industry” from Windows. It calls itself an “unconference” because the agenda is still evolving via wiki and won’t be complete until it’s chalked up on the whiteboard at 9.30am on the opening day.