Dubbed Whistler, the pending version of the popular operating system can be given a test drive at the new Whistler-Savvy Developer Center where articles, discussion groups led by experts, downloads and more are featured to help developers become acquainted with the new OS. There is also the all-too-important "Report A Bug" section for those developers to work on pesky quirks in the system.

Created in tandem Microsoft's Windows Desktop Evangelism Group, the Whistler-Savvy Developer Center allows developers to give feedback to Microsoft about the beta version and their experiences with it, which is key for the software giant in determining how to please its users in a climate where Linux is growing steadily more popular.

David Ohara, manager of PC Experience Evangelism for Microsoft, said getting developers up to speed about Whistler will help them create a better product and most likely speed its adoption.

"Access to this crucial developer audience is imperative -- not only for their feedback about the new operating system, but also because they will lead the migration to it," O'Hara said.

The Whistler-Savvy center is not the first site DevX and the software giant have worked on together. DevX also ushered in a demo site built for Microsoft's messaging platform, Exchange 2000® in October.