Microsoft’s Build developer conference returns to Seattle, rather than in San Francisco, for the third year in a row next week. Build 2019 is scheduled from May 6 to May 8, 2019 (full agenda). Build 2019 will be livestreamed, and VentureBeat will be on site covering the news live.
Instead of a keynote the first day and a keynote on the second day, Microsoft is keeping the news to the first day. The main “Vision Keynote” is on May 6 at 8:30 a.m. Pacific (11:30 a.m. Eastern). There will also be two “Technical Keynotes” on May 6 starting at 12:45 p.m. Pacific (3:45 p.m. Eastern).
That’s likely because like last year, Microsoft Build is overlapping with Google’s I/O developer conference (May 7 to May 9, 2019). This is frustrating not only for publications like VentureBeat that cover both events, but, more importantly, developers who wanted to attend both. Many Windows developers are of course also Android developers.
AI and IoT
As far as CEO Satya Nadella is concerned, Microsoft is an AI company. Like other tech giants, Microsoft is integrating AI into every product and service it can, with varying success.
June 5th: The AI Audit in NYC
Join us next week in NYC to engage with top executive leaders, delving into strategies for auditing AI models to ensure fairness, optimal performance, and ethical compliance across diverse organizations. Secure your attendance for this exclusive invite-only event.
Microsoft has plenty of popular business and developer AI offerings. Then there’s Cortana — we’ll be looking for the company to make a case for her. You can also expect plenty of assistant and bots. In addition to the artificial intelligence acronym, you’ll also hear Microsoft talk a lot about internet of things (IoT).
Microsoft Azure and the hybrid cloud
When Nadella isn’t talking about AI, he’s citing Microsoft Azure’s “Intelligent Cloud” and the “Intelligent Edge” pitch — how Azure powers various AI and IoT services. If you follow Microsoft earnings, Azure revenue is steadily growing and Nadella consistently talks up the cloud as the world’s computer. There will also be mentions of containers (packaging applications so they are abstracted from the environment in which they actually run), the hybrid cloud (combining public clouds and private clouds), and serverless (a misnomer — “serverless” still requires servers).
This year, Microsoft shared some Azure news before the event. The company today announced Azure SQL Database Edge, simplified AI model creation in Azure Machine Learning, Azure Blockchain Service, and updates to Azure Cognitive Services. But don’t be fooled: Azure will still get plenty of stage time at Build 2019.
More
AI and Azure aside, Microsoft will talk about other products and services it discusses every year: Microsoft 365, Windows 10, HoloLens, GitHub, Visual Studio, .NET, Xbox, and everything in between. We also expect an emphasis on Edge and Chromium, and a few surprises, as is typical with such conferences.
While Microsoft has many events throughout the year, including Microsoft Inspire for partners and Microsoft Ignite for business and IT leaders, Build is the biggest and most important. The event attracts developers from all around the world and is always packed full of news. Microsoft’s official description of Build 2019:
Here’s your chance to learn about new innovations, gain hands-on experience, and collaborate with peers. Whether you’re looking to dive into the latest cloud technologies, explore client development techniques, or discover new open source tooling and libraries, you’ll find what you need at Microsoft Build.
Here is a recap of what happened last year: Everything Microsoft announced at Build 2018.
