It's sad but true; however, Internet Explorer 8.0 will not be the start attraction of this year's MIX07 conference between April 30 and May 2. I don't know how many of you still remember last year's Microsoft conference for developers, designers and decision-makers that revolve around the world wide web. But at MIX06, Microsoft's star was Internet Explorer 7. In over a week, MIX07 will debut in Las Vegas and Internet Explorer 8.0 has reserved only one session, and that one is rather focused on the future of the Microsoft's browser and not on the actual product.

"Last year at MIX06, Microsoft placed a lot of emphasis on Internet Explorer 7, showing off improvements in the rendering engine, the new RSS platform, and the new security features like Protected Mode and ActiveX opt-in. Internet Explorer 7 has now been in the market for approximately 6 months, doing great, and we're hard at work on the next release," revealed Chris Wilson, Platform Architect for Internet Explorer.

Instead, Microsoft has revealed that at the conference's center stage will be Silverlight, the company's cross-platform, cross-browser solution for rich media experiences and rich interactive applications. "Microsoft, historically, has never demonstrated a commitment to maintaining a cross-platform solution," Bruce Chizen, CEO of Adobe, commented in relation to what was presented to be a Flash killer. "Even though they say Silverlight is going to be cross-platform, and maybe the first version will be, I'm not sure our customers or the people that are trying to deliver that content will have the degree of confidence that if they go with Microsoft, they'll be able to provide them with a complete cross-platform solution forever."

So, at MIX07, Microsoft representatives will only hold a total of four sessions focused on Internet Explorer: Making Money With RSS with Walter VonKoch, Thinking In CSS: How To Build Great Looking Websites with Molly Holzschlag, How To Make AJAX Applications Scream On The Client with Cyra Richardson and IE7: Past, Present and Future with Chris Wilson. Only the last will offer a preview of Internet Explorer 8.0.