Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference has just kicked off in Washington with a keynote from CEO Steve Ballmer. Focusing mostly on cloud computing and tablets, Ballmer said that Microsoft is "hardcore" about tablets and that we can expect a lot of new Windows 7 tablets before the end of the year.
These tablets, said Ballmer, will come in a variety of form factors and from several hardware partners, including Asus, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony. HP, who was supposed to launch a Windows-based tablet called Slate but later dropped the project altogether, was not mentioned.