X
Innovation

Microsoft Build 2016: What to expect

Here's my watch list for Microsoft's Build 2016 developer conference, based on the session list, tips and hints.
Written by Mary Jo Foley, Senior Contributing Editor

Now that Microsoft has published its session list for Build 2016, it's apparent that cloud and IoT are going to be the big themes this year.

Microsoft's annual Build developer conference runs from March 30 to April 1 in San Francisco. Microsoft will be streaming the Day 1 and 2 keynotes (Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. PT to 11:30 a.m. PT) on its Build site. Other sessions will be recorded and available for playback by all later next week.

build2016dev.jpg

I've posted a few stories about some of the expected hot buttons for this year's show:

This year's session list-- which Microsoft provided a bit earlier than it did for past Build shows -- provides a glimpse of a few more of the topics on the agenda.

As expected, game development will be one such theme. Microsoft, as expected, will provide developers with more guidance as to how to build Universal Windows Platform apps for Xbox.

Unsurprisingly, there are quite a few sessions about developing for the Universal Windows Platform, with particular emphasis on the notification platform, Action Center and interactive Live Tiles. There's also a session -- along with privately scheduled Holographic Academy tutorials for those who bought HoloLens development kits -- on building Universal Windows Platform apps for HoloLens -- Windows Store apps that Microsoft calls 2D apps.

Information on Azure's evolving microservices development platform, which the company has dubbed Azure Service Fabric, is on tap. Last year, Microsoft officials said to expect Azure Service Fabric to open up to Java and Linux development. There's also this job posting talking about Open Source Developer Services -- a k a "a build-test-deploy developer pipeline based on best of breed Open Source technologies in Azure -- that @h0x0d discovered recently. I wonder if we might hear more about those services as soon as next week.

Other Build 2016 sessions that caught my eye:

While the past week wasn't a good one for Microsoft bots, I'm betting we hear more at Build 2016 about the Microsoft Bot Framework under development, possibly in this session. I also spotted @BuildBot2016 briefly before the profile disappeared from Twitter....

Stay tuned to this site for lots more coverage live from Build 2016 next week.

Editorial standards