Microsoft Windows engineering chiefs Steven Sinofsky and Jon DeVaan are set to take the stage at WinHEC in Los Angeles right now to tell hardware makers what they can expect from Windows 7. You can access their keynote speech live via Web cast here. At least 1,500 people are expected at the conference.

I spoke yesterday with Jeff Price, senior director in the Windows Product Management Group, to get a preview of this morning's presentation.

LOS ANGELES -- Windows 7 will run on the new category of low-cost, lightweight laptops called "netbooks."

That's important because this fast-growing class of PCs may have cut into sales of Windows Vista in Microsoft's most recent quarter. Some of the leading "net books," such as the Asus Eee PC, can be purchased with a pre-installed Linux-based operating system.

(Note: Updates posted after the jump)

LOS ANGELES -- It's Day 2 of Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference and the next version of the company's flagship operating system software, Windows 7, is on tap.

Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of Windows and Windows Live engineering, is set to take the stage here to explain the new features of Windows 7 and his approach to building the product, which already appears markedly different than the process the company followed during development of Windows Vista.

(Update, 9:45 a.m.: Microsoft is announcing an online version of four of its most important Office applications, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Also, check this post for more updates from Sinofsky's keynote, during which he confirmed that Windows 7 will run on low-cost "net book" computers.)

The executive in charge of Windows, Steven Sinofsky, has been known for his silence as he leads the Microsoft engineers churning out the next version of the company's flagship operating system. Today, Ina Fried at News.com published a lengthy interview with Sinofsky.