At the Los Angeles Convention Center for Microsoft's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), its hard not to think of PDC (Professional Developers Conference), the higher-profile developer-oriented show that Microsoft previously held here in 2005 and 2007. WinHEC, however, is a smaller show. And this year, WinHEC's 15th, it seems even smaller than usual because Microsoft has backtracked from its typical emphasis on the future and is focusing instead on the past.

The rationale is simple: Microsoft's latest OS, Windows Vista, was five years in the making, and was only released to the general public in January. And despite measurable real-world success, Microsoft is fighting against a growing perception--wrong-headed, as it turns out--that Vista is in trouble. Turns out nothing could be further from the truth: As of last week, Microsoft has sold almost 40 million copies of Windows Vista. That, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said during his Tuesday keynote address, means within its first five weeks of availability, there were already more Vista users worldwide than there are for any non-Microsoft operating system. The message is clear if not explicitly stated: The Mac may get all the positive press, but Vista surpassed the entire Mac user base in just over a month.