One year after it was unveiled at last year's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), the "Athens" PC prototype continues to influence trends in hardware and software development -- from a proliferation of wide-screen displays to integrated wireless and telephony features. Many of these technologies will be showcased May 4 - 7 in Seattle at the 13th annual WinHEC -- the premier gathering for the PC industry to explore the future for the Microsoft Windows platform.

Developed with Hewlett Packard, the "Athens" prototype represented an evolution of the PC as a center for communication and collaboration for information workers. It simultaneously simplified PC operations while merging all forms of communication -- including next-generation voice, video and text messaging -- into a consistent, streamlined design. The goal of the "Athens" PC was to offer a vision of what can be accomplished through the synergy of software and hardware, and to inspire developers to think out of the box.

For a better sense of the importance of WinHEC to the PC industry, an update on "Athens" one year after its unveiling and a preview of what attendees can expect at this year's show, PressPass spoke with Tom Phillips, general manager of Microsoft's Windows Hardware Experience Group.