Microsoft announce the return of the WinHEC event, are Microsoft trying to reconnect with its hardware partners?

Microsoft used to have a trade show the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) that was aimed at hardware partners and developers, Microsoft often used the event to announce hardware plans for Windows and discus the Windows ecosystem. In 2008 Microsoft killed the conference as the Windows team took more control over Microsoft’s events (like replacing PDC with Build). Since then we have seen the rise of Chromebooks, Tablets and huge change in the computing landscape. During the Sinofsky era at Microsoft there was a level of arrogance that may have upset some of Microsoft’s hardware partners and since then we have seen the decline of PC sales and many OEMs pulling out of the PC market (Sony, Samsung etc) so I think Microsoft need to build some bridges with its partners and that would be the reason for bringing the show back. I have heard from a few people today that bringing back the show is a very good idea to help strengthen the Window ecosystem.

The new conference was announced on the Windows Blog:

The industry has changed quite a bit since we last held a WinHEC event, with innovation happening at a much quicker pace and across more geographically diverse locations. Because of that, we are evolving WinHEC to be more than a single annual conference. Looking ahead, WinHEC will consist of technical conferences and smaller, more frequent, topic focused workshops that are local to the hardware ecosystem hubs. Also, we have made an important change to what the acronym stands for: Windows Hardware Engineering Community. WinHEC will bring the hardware engineering community together in one place, providing a unique opportunity to interact with technical and business experts from Microsoft, other partners, and customers, facilitating exchange of ideas, best practices, and opportunities.

The first WinHEC conference will be held in Shenzhen, China on March 18th and 19^th . On a fun note I when I look back at the WinHEC mentions on TDL I found a mention of a Windows SideShow Fridge Magnet from Ricavision, anybody remember SideShow?