If you are not aware of this fact, here is the news for you. Windows  7 Beta is available now! If you haven't started downloading it, you should begin now. Windows 7 Beta is available in several versions. I have upgraded my desktop and my laptop from Vista Enterprise and Ultimate to Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate and both work just fine for me. As with any upgrade you want to be extra careful and backup all important data. Please read instructions on how to backup your computer here. In my case I had no issues whatsoever and happily running Windows 7 Beta now.

Windows SDK team has also released the Beta version the SDK for Windows 7. This is where you can find upgraded tools and new version of libraries for Web Services API.  Here is a quick summary of new things in this version in no particular order, just as I remember them:

1. Improved support for authentication to and communicate through HTTP proxies.
2. With wsutil.exe you had to specify all WSDL files and all XSD files using /wsdl and /xsd switches and add /policy switch to get the tool to generate templates for creating the Service proxy. Now you can just run wsutil.exe *.wsdl *.xsd or simply wsutil.exe *.* to get the same.
3. Updated samples. There are also standalone projects for samples in addition to documentation pages.
4. Many fixes to reported issues from early adopters of this API. Performance and reliability of this version is much better than what was in PDC version of the API.

Give this version a try and let us know what you think. We have seen several great features built using this API already and looking forward to seeing more of them. You can report issues and send us comments using the WNDP Connect site. To ask questions and have a discussion with the team that works on the API, please use the forum.