8:53AM - Wow, that was fast, guess that’s it for the liveblog, thanks to everyone for checking us out today.

8:51AM - Ballmer: “You will be unbelievable impressed in these first seven days of 7 with the offers our partners will be making. This is an important day for the industry. Thank you all for coming, stick around and play with some of the new machines!”

8:49AM - Damn, he just pulled out a Dell Adamo XPS! So hot.

8:48AM - Ballmer is holding a Vaio X from his fingertips. His very large fingertips.

8:47AM - Next is an Asus gaming PC with DX11 card showing real-time 3D rendering.

8:46AM - Ballmer feigns surprise: “The whole PC is in this little box?”

8:46AM - Now showing a bunch of different netbooks with Ion, then Acer Aspire Revo connected to an HDTV.

8:44AM - Showing Kindle app on convertible Acer tablet with resistive touch screen, then Dell Latitude Z, wireless dock with external display connected to it without any cables.

8:42AM - Now showing off HP Envy 13, how quickly it wakes up from sleep. Next is another touch-enabled all-in-one, showing app from the Hard Rock Cafe.

8:41AM - Curtain behind us opens, there’s a guy walking through walking though living room setup, kitchen setup, showing off PCs in different environments. Demoing Acer Aspire all-in-one, 15 seconds boot time.

8:39AM - He’s talking about netbooks, tablets, ultrathin, notebook, desktop, all-in-one, gaming PCs. “We’re going to show you some of the range PCs that will be available with Windows 7 starting now.”

8:37AM - “95 out of 100 times that people get to choose they chose a Windows PC. It’s the diversity of the PCs themselves, you have choices. Range of different choices.” Uh, he just said that netbooks were Windows machines. Not quite, I’m running Ubuntu on the netbook I’m using to liveblog this.

8:35AM - Ballmer’s back! “I think it’s clear why we love Windows 7.” “This year 300 million PCs will be sold. The key to the Windows PC’s success is that you can do so much with them. All the software, all the peripherals. No one person is going to do what you can do on a PC.”

8:34AM - He’s showing Task Manager on the machine, not maxed out at all (was at 54%). He’s playing one more video on the machine itself.

8:33AM - “One PC controlling my media experiences throughout the house. I’m doing all this off of one Dell XPS laptop.” He’s streaming video 7 different HD streams off of one PC. Kind of amazing.

8:32AM - Next up: Play To. Showing off Western Digital’s WD Live steamer, an Onkyo receiver, and a connected digital picture frame. Brad is selecting some photos on his PC, sending them right to the picture frame, selecting music and sending it right to the receiver, selecting video sending it to the Toshiba HDTV via the WD Live streamer.

8:28AM - Remote Media, using Windows Live ID to remotely access media on another PC. Brad is streaming off his PC in Washington. Showing one of this clips Family Guy made for the Win 7 launch. Kinda looks like Stewie is using a MacBook Pro.

8:26AM - “With Windows 7 I can take my laptop from work home and it can connect to my Homegroup, but when I take it to work it connects to my domain at work.”

8:25AM - Brad discussing creating home networks using Homegroup. Demoing bringing in a 2nd machine, walking through process. Definitely better than networking with Vista, but not really any easier for networking with non-Windows 7 machines.

8:24AM - Kindle announcement is just in time given that the Nook will have PC access.

8:23AM - “We’re announcing today that Amazon has created Kindle app for PC. Get all your content libraries.” He’s showing it off with multitouch.

8:22AM - “It’s about any content on-demand.” Showing off Netflix. “I started watching Caddyshack in Washington, can pick up where I left off.”

8:21AM - Showing Windows Media Center, using it with the touchscreen, flicking through programming guide. Very fluid. “We’ve brought some new things into the programming guide.” Integrated with online video services, showing off CBS on-demand programs. “Windows 7 TV experience working the way you want it to.”

8:18AM - “Other wonders blurring line btw PC and TV.” Showing off HP i2300 with multitouch.

8:17AM - “The 7 wonders of Windows 7.” First demo: photos. “We’re making it a lot simpler. Devicestage, plug in camera, brings up menu for importing photos.” Showing off new Windows Live Moviemaker, making slideshow with music, just a couple of clicks. One click to upload to YouTube.

8:14AM - Brad Brooks is on stage now, demo time!

8:13AM - “I love the new wireless networking. My sons love the Homegroup feature. Windows needs to be oppt for innovation for hardware and software companies, and simpler and easier to use for end-users. Win 7 takes us closer to vision of three different screen sizes, PC, phone, and TV, all connected through the cloud.”

8:11AM - “It works the way you want to work. Faster boot, more responsive, less busy, leaner. We’ve accomplished that with Win 7. Things you do all the time need to be simpler. Let’s enable a world of new things. New oppts for software, hardware devs, and for users. Multitouch. From end-user perspective, dozens or 100s of new features.”

8:10AM - 3,000 engineers, 50K partners, 8 million beta testers working together. Collected customer feedback on “Wishing Wall”. Bring together all info collecting.

8:08AM - “Simpler, faster, more responsive. We want people to have new and better experience. What’s special about Windows 7? Intense collaboration btw our engineering and our partners, 50,000 hardware, software, peripheral vendors, and our customers.”

8:07AM - Kylie leaves the stage, Steve is discussing the launch. Windows 7 in 45K stores, “I’m Steve Ballmer, and I’m a Windows 7 PC, effective immediately.”

8:05AM - Steve is handing her a new PC, looks like a netbook.

8:05AM - She just told Steve he was late for their meeting earlier.

8:04AM - She intros Steve: “I’m a PC, and here’s Steve Ballmer!” Steve comes on!

8:04AM - Kylie, the 4 year old from those ads, is on stage.

8:03AM - She’s talking about 1 billion Windows customers, 8 million users who helped test Windows 7. 800,000 people holding launch parties (seriously?).

8:02AM - Starting! It’s not Ballmer, it’s a woman named “Tami” making the introduction.

8:00AM - Ballmer is on the floor, lights just went down, we’re about to begin!

7:59AM - You can discuss today’s coverage here: http://discuss.gdgt.com/microsoft/windows/7/general/Windows-7-launch-event-live-coverage-Discuss-here-/

7:53AM - They’re showing every Windows 7 commercials that has ever featured a child in it.

7:51AM - I just did a quick interview with WCBS radio about Windows 7, let’s see if it makes the air later today.

7:45AM - Ok, we’re in! We’re here in New York at Skylight Studios waiting for Ballmer and the crew to get on stage.

10:20PM - Check back soon for live coverage!