You know an event is “Epic” when, at its conclusion, leaves you feeling like the climax was forever in the making and then suddenly complete… done… over. Even post-event celebrations feel like the long drawn out ending from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Build 2017 is an interesting twist on that for me. I spent most of the beginning of 2017 looking forward to it. Then it finally came, and the world was in its midst.
The twist is that Build, for me, is not the end, but a refreshed beginning. It’s the kickoff of new ideas, new development stories, and new opportunities, rather than an end. Build came and went, and left me feeling like I’m alive at the best time in the history of the world to be a developer, and especially a full Microsoft stack developer.
I’ve already presented my recap a couple of times. Here’s the slides.
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The slides are not as well organized however, so I’ll run through a recap with a bit more organization.
Platform: Azure
- Azure IoT Edge
- Cloud Shell Management
- Azure Management Mobile App for iOS & Android
- Appsource
- Azure Stack
Platform: 3rd Party
- Visual Studio for Mac
Platform: Mixed Reality
- AI-enabled Workplace monitoring
- New motion controllers
- Acer & HP MR Dev kits available
Platform: Windows 10 client
- Fall Creators Update
- Remix
- Fluent Design System
- Project Rome & Graph
- Legacy App Bridging
- Continuous Delivery
- Windows Identity & FIDO
- Ubuntu Linux updated
- SUSE & Fedora Linux added
Platform: .NET
- .NET Standard 2.0 & XAML Standard 1.0
- Embeddinator-4000
- Live Player for iOS & Android
Technology: Cognitive
- Twice as many services available under Azure Cognitive Services banner
Technology: Database
- PostgreSQL as a service
- MySQL as a service
- Cosmos DB
Technology: BOT FX
- Adaptive Cards
- Hardware units from Harmon Kardon, HP, Intel
Concluding Observations
Microsoft has fully given up on Windows 10 Mobile as an OS, and redefined “Mobile” to mean that the computing experience roams across all devices. This is now what they mean when they say “Mobile First / Cloud First”. This roaming experience even cuts into iOS, OS X, and Android. The big celebration of Build 2017 is “Microsoft is no longer a monopoly” which means that they are on top of “innovation hill” again. Expect amazing things from Microsoft, and expect them to be on their game once things like Augmented Reality to really dig in on the consumer market.