An Insider Look at Microsoft WPC 2011

Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference served as the venue for the software giant's summary of new features in Windows 8, information on the momentum of Windows 7 and an update on Microsoft's mobile strategy. But the conference also featured peaks at new technologies such as Windows Surface and a new beta of Windows Intune. This year's conference comes at a time when Microsoft is feeling more competitive threats on all fronts, from the assault from Apple with the iPhone and iPad as PCs decline and smartphones rise, to the threat from Google in search, cloud applications and more. What's a software giant to do? But this week at least, Microsoft seemed unimpressed by those threats and ready for the future. Check out these scenes from Microsoft WPC.