Microsoft Tuesday revealed Windows 7 at its annual Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles. Windows 7 is designed to replace Windows Vista as the main operating system for Windows-based PC users. With Apple's OS X Snow Leopard also under development, PCWorld met up with Ian Moulster, Windows Live Commercial Lead for Microsoft to talk through some of Microsoft's key ideas and discover what the next-generation of operating systems aim to offer both Mac and PC users. Here's an excerpt:

One major new feature confirmed for Windows 7 is a vastly improved touch-screen support. Taking its cue from the iPhone and the technology from Microsoft Surface, Windows 7 will see the same kind of multi-touch gestures applied to the desktop or laptop computer. "You'll be able to drag around windows and resize photos by pulling them apart... that sort of thing" said Ian Moulster. "We've redesigned the interface to make touch screen a lot easier and it'll be good to see what the take up will be. We already have several ways to interact with the computer: keyboard, mouse, voice, and we see this as another way that users can interact with their computer. It's more about choice than anything, just giving users another way that they can interact."

Even though Apple said that the Snow Leopard was about performance, not new features, some have been announced on Apple's website. The first is support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 built into Mail, Address Book and iCal. OS X Snow Leopard will use the Exchange Web Services protocol to provide access to Exchange 2007 on your Mac. While this is of little interest to the majority of consumers, it will enable Apple to make further inroads into the corporate market with both the Mac and iPhone. There are some features in OS X Server that we believe may make their way into future iterations of OS X. One is an application called Podcast Producer that enable users to quickly record video and audio podcasts and perform basic editing. The other is an application called Wiki Server that enables multiple users to publish and share collaborative information. Wiki Server is a strikingly interesting application that enables small groups to create and share information and files. Whether this technology is wholly dependent on the presence of an OS X-based Server, or could be rolled into Snow Leopard is debatable though.