Microsoft has been very tight-lipped about Windows 7, perhaps trying to prevent a PR disaster for being a little too open in discussing the potential of the OS - remember the company made a lot of promises with Vista but things changed considerably along the path of development. It appears, however, that the software giant is ready to offer the first public peek at Windows 7 and it will be doing so during the sixth version of the D: All Things Digital conference.

The show will begin tonight with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer onstage where, in addition to just discussing their vision and ideas on Windows 7, they will supposedly reveal a little bit of the user interface as well. There are also a few nuggets of info to be found in a recent interview with Windows chief Steven Sinofsky, where he dispels rumors that Microsoft is creating a new "minimum" kernel for Windows 7. According to Sinofsky, the plan is to refine the kernel architecture introduced in Vista without adding things like new driver models so as to avoid the incompatibility fiasco that was the initial Vista launch.