It’s time to //Build/!
It’s amazing how technology has been transforming our lives. Sit back for a moment and think about it – how you yourself have been impacted by the numerous tech innovations. And yet, there is something new to always explore – something fascinating, that can help people achieve more.
With so many developers building ‘what’s next’, Microsoft showcased to the developers what it’s been doing behind its office doors at its annual conference – Build 2016.
This conference was spread across 3 days from 30 March – 1 April in San Francisco. The keynote on the first day focused on personal computing driven by Windows. The second day’s keynote focused on how we are building the intelligent cloud with Azure and how customers are using it in production. In addition, we talked about how Office 365 is helping improve productivity all the time. In this blog, I’ll cover some announcements made on the first day.
Windows 10 is being actively used by over 270 million people – think it over, that’s huge! And still we have time to achieve our 1 Billion goal. We announced about a major update coming to Windows 10 – the Anniversary Update coming this summer for free. There was a special callout, deservedly so, to all the Windows Insiders, who have been instrumental in giving us feedback and shaping our roadmap for Windows 10. These are the folks who’ve opted in to receive preview builds and give us feedback to shape the future of Windows. If you’re interested to join this program and help us build for the future, head over to https://insider.windows.com/.
Coming to the Anniversary Update, here are a few important updates:
- Windows Hello (our biometric authentication to log-on to devices) will be available to be used as an authentication mechanism for Windows apps and all the supporting websites running on Microsoft Edge. So you can log in to such websites using your face, or fingerprint!
- Introduction of Windows Ink – an all-new experience which attempts to make writing on a device just as writing on a paper, maybe better. This is already integrated into apps like Maps, Office and Microsoft Edge. So, with Windows Ink, you can use the virtual ruler:
... or, simply use your pen to delete sentences from Word. Just cross them using Ink and the sentences will be gone.
Head over here to learn more.
- We released Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 and the Anniversary SDK preview. This includes some exciting new features like Action Center in the cloud (so, as an example, you can now dismiss notifications on one device and they will be dismissed on all your synced devices), App Extensions (Microsoft Edge uses this technology for its own extensions – that’s a news too), improved background execution of apps, etc. Head over here to learn more.
- We wanted to make Windows as a home for your development. To make this one step closer, the Bash shell is coming to Windows! This was among the biggest announcements we made. Native Ubuntu Linux binaries running on Windows through a new Windows subsystem. This was made possible because of our partnership with Canonical. The developers will be able to download the Bash shell from the Windows Store. So, all the developers who wanted more support for relevant command line tools, you’ve got this on Windows with Bash! And all of this is made possible because of ‘your’ feedback on uservoice. Check out this Build session here to learn more.
- There’s good news for all the Win32 and .NET developers who are looking to convert their desktop app to a UWP app (using Project Centennial). We shipped a desktop app converter which will help in the process. The code continues to run with minimal changes. This is our way of making it easy to bring 16+ million Win32/.NET apps to the Universal Windows Platform. Head over here to see how you can use it.
- With Windows 10 Anniversary update, background music and Cortana is coming to Xbox One. So, Cortana can now become your gaming assistant! Support for multiple GPUs is also arriving! We launched Xbox Dev Mode, where you can convert your retail Xbox One to be a developer kit. Head over here for all details.
- We already have nearly 1000 apps using voice commands with Cortana. Now, you can integrate actions within your apps to drive more engagement. Head over here to request access to beta.
- Microsoft Hololens Development Edition is now shipping to developers! We showed off another cool demo of Hololens on stage.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM1P41qeVGs[/embed]
So folks, this was a short recap of some of the announcements made on Build Day 1 with relevant links to get started. Next up will be a discussion on ‘Conversations as a Platform’ – where we will talk about the possibilities that can exist with bots. Stay tuned.
Until next time,
Saurabh Kirtani