MIX07 is coming and it's more than just another conference. Yes, I know... the marketing pitch is that it's a "72 hour conversation"... and this doesn't mean that it's some random suits from Microsoft standing on a stage and playing buzzword bingo.

It's much more than that.

For a start it's in Las Vegas (yeah baby!). It'll be my first visit to that city and I'm really looking forward to it.

Secondly it's going to be a chance to meet with your peers from around the world, find out what they've been up to and where they're taking the web and how they're leveraging new technologies such as WPF/E and Gadgets as well as AJAX in Visual Studio.

We've got keynotes from Robbie Bach (the President of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division) and Michael Arrington (the founder of TechCrunch) and others - covering today and tomorrow, shipping technology and visions for the future.

But it's not just all talk. Check out the MIX University for samples of the content, technologies and labs that will be available - yes, you might actually learn something at this event ;) I'm finally getting a chance to build my very first gadget!

As well as MIX U there will be a range of demos, labs and chances to talk to both your peers and folks from Microsoft about solving the problems you're hitting today (and hopefully avoiding new ones).

As an incentive to sign up early there's big discounts available before March 15th so don't miss out.

A second bonus is that MEDC will also be taking place in Las Vegas for developers and IT/business professionals interested in Microsoft's mobility and embedded software strategy. If you want to make a real trip of it and try and soak up both MIX and MEDC sessions (the latter alone has over 200 sessions and labs planned) then combined tickets are available at quite a discount.

But, that's not all. We're not throwing in a set of steak knives but something much better... all MIX07 attendees will receive a free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate. What's even better is that those copies will be eligible for the family discount so you could score two more licences for US$49.99 each - over US$600 value.

As we get closer to MIX I'm getting more excited.... hope to see you there :)