The Microsoft Build conference had a different feel this year as the global threat of the COVID-19 virus forced the company to host the entire conference online – mostly from the homes of the developers and managers. Of course, this affected me less than others because I have never actually attended Build in person.
I always make a point of watching the opening keynotes, as this is where one hears about new announcements and the things about which Microsoft is most excited.
The day 1 keynote featured Satya Nadella calling attention to the success of Azure, Office 365, and Microsoft 365. He invited a couple of guest speakers to demonstrate how they were using Microsoft technologies to improve their business.
Immediately after Satya’s address, the finals for Imagine Cup were held. This is an international student tech competition that included thousands of submissions from all over the world. The 6 semi-finalists were introduced; the 3 finalists presented their project, and a champion was announced. This event is close to my heart, since I was involved a few years ago. Team Hollo from Hong Kong won with a project that used AI to track mood by analyzing video and voice and comparing it to pre-built models, as a way of combatting depression and suicide.
Here are my notes from Day 1:
Satya Nadella
CodeSpace
Provision dev box in cloud, provisioned with VS Code
Work from any device
WSL 2
Linux on Windows
Power Platform
95% of Fortune 500 use Azure
Cloud extends to edge
Azure Arc
Microsoft 365
Build apps or extend apps
Power Platform
Rapid App Dev tool for professional developers
Also for "Citizen developers" who don't write code for a living
3.5 million users
Extends M365
1-click: Add Power Apps to Teams
Distributed Infrastructure
95% of Fortune 500 use Azure
Most data regions (61)
"Project Reunion"
Unify Win32 and USP app development
Case Study: Folding@Home
Greg Bowman, PhD, Washington U St Louis
Studying how proteins fold
Distributed computing to home computers
Case Study
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
App integrates with Teams
Use Teams to perform for and interact with audience
Tudor Fay, New Blue, Inc.
Imagine Cup
6 semi-finalists
3 Finalists
Tremor Vision
United States
Parkinson's
Azure Custom vision to detect tremors associated with Parkinson's
Team Syrinx
Tokyo
Lost voice
Device on throat. Generates vibration patterns.
Hollo (winner!)
University of Hong Kong
Mood tracking app
Use Azure to track face, voice. Use models to evaluate mental health
New features for education
Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador
New student hub on Microsoft Learn
Student Zone at Build