Microsoft Build is a developer-focused event, and because of that, the news that comes out of it is usually in the weeds of coding with Visual Studio, Azure, SQL Databases, and the like. But this year, just as Build kicks off, we can expect a product announcement of general interest involving Microsoft’s Surface tablets and laptops and the Windows operating system. Build 2024 officially starts on May 21 at 9 a.m. Pacific Time with a keynote from CEO Satya Nadella and friends. It’s a hybrid event, with some sessions taking place in person at the Seattle Convention Center and others streamed live on the web and recorded for on-demand viewing. (You can register for either at the official Microsoft Build website.) Here’s what we expect to see.New Surface PCs and Tablets
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for Business (Credit: Microsoft)
In March, Microsoft unveiled the Surface Pro 10 for Business and Surface Laptop 6 for Business, which include new AI capabilities for corporations. It’s possible the company will announce consumer versions of the same devices with Intel “Meteor Lake” Core Ultra processors, a dedicated Copilot key, and advanced 1440p cameras. Ultra processors allow on-board AI processing to speed up answers compared with pinging Microsoft’s servers.It’s more likely, however, that we’ll see completely new devices powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite. This could finally give Windows the battery life and AI processing to help it compete with the speedy recent generation of Apple Silicon-based computers. Personally, I really liked the format of the now-abandoned, Arm-powered Surface Pro X tablet. Returning to that kind of lightness and battery life could be a real boost to Microsoft’s tablet ambitions and laptop users who understandably want those characteristics. Whatever it is, we’ll have coverage of the May 20 Surface event.Copilot Updates
(Credit: Microsoft)
Nadella has repeatedly said Microsoft is now “the Copilot company.” Even the Build scheduler web page sports a Copilot text box that says, “Ask me anything about Microsoft Build,” though it is labeled “powered by Azure AI.”There are 137 sessions that include the word Copilot in their titles or description text. We’ll see new Copilot capabilities built into Windows and Office. We’ll also get plenty of information on how to program for Copilot. “Low Code” is also a theme of the show, with Copilot enabling this easier way to build functionality.Last fall’s Microsoft Ignite was a Copilot-heavy event; we got Copilot Studio, Copilot for Service, and Copilot for Sales. So we expect to see more Copilot flavors debuting at this year’s Build.Windows Updates to Copilot and MoreWe’ll likely see more PC control capabilities and tighter Copilot integration with Windows. I hope the company gives the feature a wake-word option so that, like Cortana of old, I can ask the AI questions without having to be at my mouse and keyboard. We’ll certainly see some of the Copilot updates that have been showing up in Windows Insider preview builds, like the ability to move the sidebar into a standard program window. One session’s description teases “brand-new features that allow users deeper interaction with their digital lives on Windows through advanced AI features.”A couple of sessions refer to the Microsoft Store on Windows, so the company will no doubt push that as well and—you guessed it—inject some Copilot capabilities. I also expect to hear about integration between mobile devices and Windows given the session called “Creating Seamless Cross-Device Experiences with Windows.”If we’re lucky, we may even get a glimpse of Windows 12!Office UpdatesOr more properly, Microsoft 365 updates. We’ll certainly see more Copilot functionality coming to the Office apps and Teams. Microsoft has been big on giving corporations more ways to leverage Copilot with their own data sets and custom functionality. We might even see non-Copilot updates, perhaps in the nature of VR and AR with Microsoft Mesh updates. A joint Microsoft-Meta panel promises to show “how we are bringing Mesh, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and the entire Windows experience to Quest.” Mesh is available on PC and Meta Quest VR devices.Windows on Arm
The Arm-powered Windows Dev Kit PC. (Credit: Microsoft)
In 2022, Microsoft released an Arm developer PC, and now it’s time to release devices for the general public. Qualcomm’s new processors look to feature heavily in the Arm development sessions, one of which claims the platform is “bringing industry-leading performance and experiences to applications.” Let’s hope Microsoft can finally produce an Arm experience that at least equals that provided by Apple Silcon-powered computers.More AI, Even Beyond CopilotOne conference session is titled “Learn how to accelerate Stable Diffusion,” which promises “exciting product announcements.” Will there be a Microsoft product based on the open-source Stable Diffusion AI image generator?
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Azure, Azure, and Still More AzureMicrosoft’s cloud programming platform Azure has boasted AI features for several years, but with the advent of the ChatGPT and Copilot era, these capabilities are sure to be accelerated. Azure and cloud computing are Microsoft’s major moneymakers these days, and the company will likely add AI tools to ease developers’ daily workloads. Using generative AI to accelerate and simplify programming could be one of the technology’s most important applications.An example of the conference’s focus on development for AI is the description of one session called AI Everywhere—Accelerate your development from the edge to cloud, which offers help with using “ONNX RT with DirectML and OpenVINO EP to accelerate generative AI models on edge devices.” Another session is all about “Building a connected vehicle and app experience with BMW and Azure.” Microsoft clearly wants to expand Azure’s reach to new areas. Another session is titled, “Build a Music Recommendation System with Azure Container Apps and AI.”Security InitiativesMicrosoft has long been concerned about identity, authentication, and authorization, and at least one session, “Securing Applications with Microsoft Entra ID,” will focus on this topic. Entra is the company’s new name for the venerable Active Directory identity management system. Another session is titled “Unlocking Data Security with Microsoft Purview,” referring to Microsoft’s data governance platform.Data AnalyticsMicrosoft has been touting its Fabric data science platform at the last few Build conferences, and this year, we can expect a Copilot flavor to be added to using that. One relevant session here is “Modern Analytics with Microsoft Fabric, Copilot and Azure Databricks,” the latter “enables an open data lakehouse” according to Microsoft’s documentation.GamingDon’t expect much talk about gaming at Build. The only relevant sessions I found were “Gaming Industry use cases for Azure & AI,” and “Realize your vision with a guide to building Windows on Snapdragon.” The Microsoft Store sessions will also be relevant for video games.Imagine Cup Winners
(Credit: Microsoft)
It’s always fun to watch the presentations by competitors in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup. These young developers often come up with impressive life-improving devices, games, and apps. This is the tenth year of the global competition.Stay abreast of all the news from Microsoft’s big conference on our Build event page.
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