I was fortunate enough to attend the Build 2014 conference last week in San Francisco and thought I would provide a brief recap of events and a few personal takeaways.
Let me preface by saying I have never attended a Build conference (since TechEd had been my preferred conference), but I left quite impressed. To me, I would have to say that TechEd content was a bit deeper from a technical perspective with sessions showing you how to accomplish specific things, however, the Build sessions provided more information on what is possible and covered a much broader range of topics and technologies.
The Keynote sessions at Build made on thing clear: Microsoft is extremely focused on the Mobile and Cloud platforms.
The Day 1 Keynote covered many topics including:
- Windows Phone 8.1 (along with the Personal Assistant Cortana)
- Windows 8.1 Update
- Universal Windows Applications
- Kinect V2 for Windows
- Marketing promo of new Nokia Phones
The Day 2 Keynote focused mostly on changes around the Azure cloud offerings including amazing things like the Roslyn .NET compiler and remote debugging of applications on Azure VMS.
Another key takeaway I had with this conference was that Microsoft is becoming very serious about cross-platform development.
Many of the sessions available demonstrated how to create an application for iOS or Android using the tools most .NET developers are already familiar with. I’m not sure if what I experienced was just the difference between TechEd and Build, or if it is the beginning of new leadership at Microsoft with Satya Nadella, but it is very clear that Microsoft is becoming much more innovative and moving at a much faster pace. They are definitely evolving to be the leader in Mobile and Cloud development regardless of the platform or form factor you are using.
Although you won’t get a free XBOX One like the attendees, Microsoft did go to great lengths to make sure all session recordings and content are available for you to review at your convenience.
As a seasoned .NET developer, these are exciting times indeed, and I feel well equipped to provide solutions for Rockton Software that will enable you to work simpler & easier®.
