Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

TORONTO – Microsoft kicks off the 2012 edition of its annual Worldwide Partner Conference Monday morning with a series of keynotes from the Air Canada Centre here.

As usual, leading off the event will be CEO Steve Ballmer, with other top executives joining him to discuss some of the component pieces of what Microsoft is calling its biggest launch year ever – one which is expected to see the launch of both of its flagship products, Windows and Office.

Ballmer takes the stage shortly after 9:00 am Eastern to get things started, so expect the liveblog to start updating shortly afterwards.

[liveblog]