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The company made the announcement on its PDC blog, saying that those who attend the keynote of Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, will "be one of the first to get a look at Windows 7."

Though

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the company has been notoriously tight-lipped about what to expect from its latest operating system, a quick look at the agenda potentially gives away a few interesting titbits.

For example, a lecture titled "Welcome to the Windows 7 Desktop" promises to display "exciting enhancements to the taskbar, Start Menu, and other desktop elements" while another mentions "New APIs to Find, Visualize and Organise."

Microsoft confirmed earlier in the week that attendees would each receive a 160GB external hard drive containing all the developer information from the conference, and it now seems likely the drive will also contain the pre-beta build of Windows 7.

The conference is being held in the Los Angeles convention centre on 28 October.

To find out what you can expect from Windows 7, and why you don't have to wait to get your hands on some of its features, pick up a copy of this month's PC Pro, on sale now.