Microsoft invited the tech press to a Windows 8 event next week. We will undoubtedly learn more about Windows 8, and it is widely expected that Microsoft will also make the Windows 8 Consumer Preview available next week. The most interesting aspect of the entire thing, though, is the venue at which Microsoft is hosting this event: Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012 in Barcelona.

What makes the timing and location of Microsoft’s event so curious? Well, Microsoft could have pushed to unveil more details about Windows 8 at CES last month–an event with a much broader and more general gadget focus. It could also have simply scheduled its own launch event in Redmond, or New York, or Silicon Valley, or held off a while and used its own Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto in July.