It's TechEd time.

And at this year's annual gathering of Microsoft IT pros and developers, which starts on June 11 in Boston, Microsoft is expected to tout its growing family development platforms.

Windows – and the recently renamed .Net Framework 3.0 (the set of technologies formerly known as WinFX) – are Microsoft's primary development platforms to which the company encourages third-party and custom developers to write.

But at TechEd, Microsoft officials also are slated to talk up a number of new and emerging Microsoft development platforms. Microsoft officials from the Windows Live, Office and Dynamics teams are set to extol the virtues of Windows Live, Office 2007, and Dynamics/GP as development platforms in their own right. Company officials also will highlight the "Microsoft Application Platform," comprised of SQL Server, BizTalk Server and Visual Studio, during the week-long event.

During the June 11 keynote kick-off, Microsoft is trotting out three of its top officials to set the stage for a number of platform-related announcements. Chief Technology Officer Ray Ozzie is expected to talk up Microsoft's evolving Windows Live developer push. Senior Vice President of Server and Tools Bob Muglia is on tap to discuss the latest on Longhorn Server and other Microsoft server products, including SQL Server. And Corporate Vice President of the Information Worker Product Management Group Chris Capossela will likely show off new developer-specific features of the Office 2007 platform.

Microsoft officials will flesh out the high-level product-strategy roadmaps in sessions throughout the week.

Here are the ten hot buttons (in no particular order) which we'll be tracking during TechEd 2006:

1. The CTP 1 release of SQL Server Everywhere. As Microsoft noted earlier this year, the company has been planning to release a first test build some time this summer of the mobile database technology it is calling "SQL Server Everywhere." Community Technology Preview (CTP) 1 is waiting in the wings, we hear.

The SQL Server team also is set to talk up at length SQL Server Always On, Microsoft's high-availability database technologies/strategies. There are nearly 10 SQL Server Always On sessions on the TechEd docket.

2. The Beta 2 drop of WinFS. TechEd also is slated to be the venue for Microsoft to launch Beta 2 of WinFS, the Windows file system/file store technology that originally was set to be part of Vista and Longhorn Server. Recently, Windows Server chief Bob Muglia told Microsoft Watch that WinFS will likely debut first as part of SQL Server – we're assuming SQL Server "Katmai" – which is the next version of Microsoft's database expected to launch in 2007/2008.

We're betting we might hear more about the first "killer app" for WinFS at TechEd, too. That app, code-named "Project Orange," is being developed by Microsoft, as we reported recently.

3. The launch of the Windows Live Dev portal. Microsoft will launch officially at the show the Windows Live Dev portal site -- which will provide a single repository for programming interfaces and developer-focused information -- and try to get its Windows Live story in order at this week's conference. Microsoft quietly soft-launched the Live Dev portal on June 9.

4. More details (and possibly a first public beta) of Windows Client Protection service. Microsoft is expected to peel back the covers on Windows Client Protection -- the business version of its Windows Live OneCare subscription service -- at the conference. (Windows Client Protection has been in private beta for a few months now.)

5. A release of the new Office Communicator Ajax service. Microsoft is making available its business instant-messaging and presence technologies in the form of a new service. "See how to use this service from a Web page and how to access that Web page from a tab in Office Communicator. We discuss best practices for using the service as well as tips and tricks for performing tasks like broadcasting Instant Messages to a group and managing contacts and groups. The session also shows you how to use the CWA AJAX service from other environments," according to a blurb for the June 15 TechEd session.

6. Demos galore of business mash-ups. The Microsoft Business Solutions team has gone mad for mash-ups. At Tech Ed, expect them to show off new mash- ups of Office and Dynamics for specific roles and business process/functions. During the Sunday night keynote, Ozzie is slated to show off how developers can mash up Windows Live Local with vertical Dynamics solutions.

7. Details on integrating the 'RibbonX' Office interface into third-party apps. The Office team is expected to push new Office 2007 features, including the new Ribbon user interface, as appealing to third-party app writers. Microsoft is calling its Office user-integration model "RibbonX." The Office team also will tout at TechEd the OneNote application programming interface (API) as another way that third-party developers can add note-taking features to their applications.

8. More on the 'Cypress' Office 2007 add-in for Visual Studio 2005. The "Trinity" team at Microsoft quietly unveiled the week of June 4 their plans for "Cypress," a Visual Studio 2005 add-in designed to enable developers to build applications targeting Office 2007. We expect we'll hear more specifics about Cypress and Microsoft's overall Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) strategy during TechEd week. A beta version of "Cypress" is due out some time this summer.

9. Specifics on the evolving Microsoft 'Self-Service Biz Platform.' In a session on June 13, Microsoft is slated to discuss its plans to help developers create more self-service apps using Microsoft's infrastructure. By relying on a foundation of Office 2007, SQL 2005, Windows Workflow Foundation and Windows Communications Foundation, developers can build new kinds of self-service applications, Microsoft says.

10. A preview of new data-mining add-ins for Office 2007. Microsoft has slated its "world premier" of its new data-mining add-ons for Office 2007 for TechEd. Among the new add-ins are table-analytics tools for Excel 2007, data-mining client tools for Excel 2007, and data-mining templates for Visio 2007.

TechEd 2006 takes place June 11 to June 16 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.