Ultimately, Gates added, systems based on Whistler won't require daily rebooting but will instead hibernate when not being used. Whistler will merge Microsoft's corporate and consumer Windows code lines and is currently targeted for release in the second half of next year. A digital camera was connected to a Whistler-based PC, which almost automatically downloaded images from the camera and uploaded them to a Web page. Speaking after Gates, Carl Stork, general manager of Microsoft's Windows hardware strategy group, laid out the company's operating system road maps for the client, server and embedded markets. In other sessions throughout the week, Microsoft executives will more closely detail plans for future Windows versions, including Whistler.
Many sessions focus on hardware integration issues such as device driver design.
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