Let me start by saying I have absolutely no inside knowledge, neither through the MVP program or any other means, that is fuelling what I’m about to write. This is entirely conjecture fuelled by speculation and too much Soporro beer at a fantastic Japanese restaurant tonight.

Still, I present to you…

D’Arcy’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2012 Predictions!!!

So what can we expect to be announced at this year’s WPC? Much more than last year I’m hoping! Last year was sort of encouraging the troops to carry on with the Windows 7 messaging even with Windows 8 looming in the distance. It also showed Microsoft’s slant towards Private Cloud in addition to Azure.

This year, we’re going to see a shift to a battle cry – Windows 8 is Coming, Windows 8 is Coming! I expect we’re going to hear an RTM date for Windows 8 from Steve Ballmer tomorrow, in addition to dates surrounding Windows Server 2012. We’ll also hear some announcement around Windows Phone 8, but I’m not really sure what – that whole piece is still quite muddy; are we going to actually *see* Windows Phone 8 devices this week? That would be great, but I imagine those types of announcements might be left for Build.

Speaking of Build, I’m expecting an announcement on a date for a Build conference this Fall, probably late October.

If any announcements are going to be made around Office 15, the schedule isn’t hinting at it. In fact, other than Office 365 there’s not much mention of Office in the conference sessions – either a red herring, or telling that Microsoft has another announcement coming later.

The tagline of the conference is “A New Era. Together.” It’s obvious Microsoft is wanting to leverage WPC to rally their partners to carry the Windows 8 banner into the field of battle this fall when it ships.

D