Radio Reg Microsoft's massive Professional Developers' Conference (PDC) hits Los Angeles, California, next week. It's the event for anyone interested in the direction and details of where Microsoft's software is headed.

To put PDC in perspective, previous years saw Bill Gates unveil .NET and Windows Vista. And we all know how they went.

This year Microsoft will talk up its cloud-computing platform rival to Amazon and eBay, cough up eagerly awaited details on Windows Vista's successor, and chief software architect Ray Ozzie will use his PDC speaking debut to try and fill the geeky trainers vacated by Bill Gates.

The Reg is previewing PDC in MicroBite, our inaugural Microsoft podcast with career Microsoft journalist, blogger and author Mary-Jo Foley and veteran Microsoft watcher and Reg software editor Gavin Clarke.

Each show Mary-Jo and Gavin will get inside Microsoft's head to tell you what's going on, picking the brains of special guests and putting your questions to those who matter. This week: LiveSide.net Kip Kniskern and Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin share what they know on Live Mesh and Windows versus Linux in high-performance and netbook computing.

If you like it sharp and to the point, then MicroBite's for you.

Among this-week's bite-sized chunks:

• Microsoft's cloud and Live Mesh - separated at birth?
• More codenames than an MI16 reunion
• Windows 7 - just like Windows Vista, except it's not
• The Ray Ozzie and Bob Muglia: beauty and the beast
• Silverlight 2 and you
• What mood is Steve Ballmer in?

To listen, click play on our retro-funky player below.

MicroBite 1

MicroBite is also available to download as an MP3, or for the bandwidth conscious among you MicroBite is available as Ogg Vorbis.

Email your questions for next week's episode of MicroBite to: microbite@theregister.co.uk

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