The Microsoft Build 2017 Recap: What To Expect When You’re Expecting Windows
by Brett Howse on May 19, 2017 8:00 AM ESTFirst Thoughts
Build continues to be one of the most important events for Microsoft for the year, and this year there was plenty of announcements for what’s coming this year for Windows, Azure, and more. There are plenty of chances for developers to make their impact, with a surge in computing devices available now. Phones, PCs, tablets, Xbox, IoT, and other devices are permeating the world we live in, and Microsoft is hoping to not only provide devices, but to also power cloud connections through Azure, and they continuously update their tools to enabled developers to do more.
On the Windows front, there is plenty to look forward to this year. The Fall Creators Update is going to bring some excellent additions to Windows, after the Creators Update which just came out was a more muted release. OneDrive Files on Demand, Linux Subsystem updates, and more apps finding their way to the store thanks to the help of the Desktop Bridge for Windows should provide pretty much anyone with something to look forward to.
Microsoft also announced quite a few updates to their developer tools, and they continue to expand their cross-platform capabilities after the purchase of Xamarin last year. Visual Studio Mobile Center was announced, Project Rome to add the Microsoft Graph to apps, and a Xamarin Live Player was announced which lets you deploy, run, test, and debug iOS apps from a Windows PC.
Windows is not the dominant platform it once was, but with Azure, Office 365, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and more, Microsoft still has plenty of platforms to target. Windows has a diminished role in the world of 2017, but Windows 10 is running on over 500 million devices, and if Microsoft can ever get developers to embrace the store, they should have an easier time in the future with updating the base frameworks.
This looks to be another exciting year to keep track of what’s coming out of Redmond.
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Kevin G - Tuesday, May 23, 2017 - link
Not sure that is true anymore (it certainly was in the past). This have changed with 10 bit and HDR becoming consumer technologies now.CSMR - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
"Windows has never had a color management system to speak of"The current color management system dates back to Windows Vista and Microsoft imaging applications did a good job, with some exceptions including Internet Explorer/Edge. Win10 even does a reasonable job by default, with default monitor profiles loaded automatically.
Brett Howse - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
It's hard to give Windows credit for color management when all of the burden is put on the developer to do all the work. That's the case right now with wide color and HDR too but doesn't appear to be the long term goal.ironwing - Sunday, May 21, 2017 - link
"Possibly some of the biggest news about Windows actually got announced on April 20, when Microsoft committed to biannual updates for their operating system."Should be "semiannual".
Brett Howse - Sunday, May 21, 2017 - link
Definition of semi-annual: occurring every six months or twice a year
Definition of biannual
: occurring twice a year
ironwing - Sunday, May 21, 2017 - link
Oops, I was reading biennial. My bad, carry on.sorten - Sunday, May 21, 2017 - link
When I saw the Google IO live coverage I was wondering if you were going to mention Build from the previous week.zepi - Monday, May 22, 2017 - link
I think one remaining issue with using Windows is the complexity of licensing in business use. Buying individual license for personal usage is simple enough, but licensing models for server versions are still a dark art.If I were a manager making decision on whether we should use Windows or Linux as a OS under our application platform, I'd be worried that costs are very opaque and I have hard time understanding the licensing. Now, obviously one doesn't just do a decision like that and .net being open sourced and usable on linux these caveats have reduced somewhat, but the underlying issue is still there.
I suppose MS thinks that azure solves this by providing a simple monthly rolling cost that abstracts everything into a one monthly bill...
doggface - Monday, May 22, 2017 - link
You are forgetting enterprise.The thing windows does very well is scale. For example, If you want to deploy an app to 5000 PCs you can click a few buttons and it is done.
If you want to block behaviour, you can do it using GPOs.
No other platform has that control.
doggface - Monday, May 22, 2017 - link
I think we can all agree you have control issues.