Microsoft Build (often stylised as ) is an annual

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

event held by Microsoft, aimed at software engineers and

web developer A web developer is a programmer who develops World Wide Web applications using a client–server model. The applications typically use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in the client, and any general-purpose programming language in the server. is used f ...

s using Windows,

Microsoft Azure Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as a ...

and other Microsoft technologies. First held in 2011, it serves as a successor for Microsoft's previous developer events, the Professional Developers Conference (an infrequent event which covered development of software for the Windows operating system) and

MIX Mix, mixes or mixing may refer to: Persons & places * Mix (surname) ** Tom Mix (1880-1940), American film star * nickname of Mix Diskerud (born Mikkel, 1990), Norwegian-American soccer player * Mix camp, an informal settlement in Namibia * Mix ...

(which covered

web development Web development is the work involved in developing a website for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network). Web development can range from developing a simple single static page of plain text to complex web applications ...

centering on Microsoft technology such as Silverlight and ASP.net). The attendee price was (US)$2,195 in 2016, up from $2,095 in 2015. It sold out quickly, within one minute of the registration site opening in 2016.

Format

The event has been held at a large

convention center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

, or purpose-built meeting space on the Microsoft Campus. The Keynote on the first day has been led by the Microsoft CEO addressing the press and developers. It has been the place to announce the general technology milestones for developers. There are breakout sessions conducted by engineers and program managers, most often Microsoft employees representing their particular initiatives. The keynote on the second day often includes deeper dives into technology. Thousands of developers and technologists from all over the world attend.

Events

2011

Build 2011 was held from September 13 to September 16, 2011 in Anaheim, California. The conference heavily focused on Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 and Visual Studio 2012; their Developer Preview versions were also released during the conference. Attendees also received a Samsung

tablet Tablet may refer to: Medicine * Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill" Computing * Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the s ...

shipping with the Windows 8 "Developer Preview" build.

2012

Held on Microsoft's campus in Redmond from October 30 to November 2, 2012, the 2012 edition of Build focused on the recently released Windows 8, along with

Windows Azure Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as ...

and Windows Phone 8. Attendees received a

Surface RT The first-generation Surface (launched as Surface with Windows RT, later marketed as Surface RT) is a hybrid tablet computer developed and manufactured by Microsoft. Announced in June 2012, it was released in October 2012, and was the first pers ...

tablet with Touch Cover, a

Nokia Lumia 920 Nokia Lumia 920 is a smartphone developed by Nokia that runs the Windows Phone 8 operating system. It was announced on September 5, 2012, and was first released on November 2, 2012. It has a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Krait CPU and a 4.5 ...

smartphone, and 100GB of free

SkyDrive SkyDrive may refer to: * OneDrive Microsoft OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is a file hosting service operated by Microsoft. First launched in August 2007, it enables registered users to share and synchronize their files. OneDrive also works as t ...

storage.

2013

Build 2013 was held from June 26 to June 28, 2013 at the Moscone Center (North and South) in San Francisco. The conference was primarily used to unveil the

Windows 8.1 Windows 8.1 is a release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 27, 2013, and broadly released for retail sale on October 17, 2013, about a year after the retail release of its pre ...

update for Windows 8. Each attendee received a

Surface Pro The Surface Pro is a first generation 2-in-1 detachable of the Microsoft Surface series, designed and manufactured by Microsoft. The device ran a 64-bit version of Windows 8 Pro operating system with a free upgrade possibility to Windows 8.1 Pr ...

, Acer Iconia W3 (the first 8-inch Windows 8 tablet) with a

Bluetooth keyboard A ''wireless keyboard'' is a computer keyboard that allows the user to communicate with computers, tablets, or laptops with the help of radio frequency (RF), such as WiFi and Bluetooth or with infrared (IR) technology. It is common for wireless ke ...

, one year of Adobe Creative Cloud and 100GB of free

storage.

2014

Build 2014 was held at the Moscone Center (West) in San Francisco from April 2 to April 4, 2014. Build attendees received a free Xbox One and a $500 Microsoft Store gift card. Highlights: * Windows Display Driver Model 2.0 and DirectX 12 * Microsoft Cortana * Windows Phone 8.1 *

Spring Update
Windows free on all devices with a screen size of 9" or less and on IoT
* Bing Knowledge widget and app linking * .NET Native
AnnouncementProduct Page
*

.NET Compiler Platform .NET Compiler Platform, also known by its codename Roslyn, is a set of open-source compilers and code analysis APIs for C# and Visual Basic (VB.NET) languages from Microsoft.

(Roslyn) * Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 RC * Team Foundation Server 2013 Update 2 RTM * TypeScript 1.0 *

.NET Foundation The .NET Foundation is an organization incorporated on March 31, 2014, by Microsoft to improve open-source software development and collaboration around the .NET Framework. It was launched at the annual Build 2014 conference held by Microsoft. T ...

2015

Build 2015 was held at the Moscone Center (West) in San Francisco from April 29 to May 1, 2015. Registration fee is $2095, and opened at 9:00am PST on Thursday, January 22 and "sold out" in under an hour with an unspecified number of attendees. Build attendees received a free

HP Spectre x360 HP may refer to: Businesses and organisations * HP Inc., an American technology company ** Hewlett-Packard, the predecessor to HP Inc. * HP Foods ** HP Sauce, formerly made by HP Foods * Handley Page, an aircraft company * Hindustan Petroleum * ...

ultrabook. Highlights: * Windows 10 * Windows 10 Mobile * HoloLens and Windows Holographic * Windows Server 2016 * Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 * Visual Studio 2015 * Visual Studio Code

2016

Build 2016 was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from March 30 to April 1, 2016. The price was $2195, an increase of $100 compared to the previous year. The conference was sold out in 1 minute. Unlike previous years, there were no hardware gifts for attendees. Highlights: * Windows Subsystem for Linux *

Cortana Cortana may refer to: * ''Cortana'' (gastropod), a gastropod genus * Cortana (''Halo''), character in the ''Halo'' franchise *Cortana (virtual assistant), virtual assistant from Microsoft *Cortana, or Curtana, a ceremonial sword used in the coronat ...

chatbot on Skype * "Power of the Pen and the PC" * .NET Standard Library *

ASP.NET Core ASP.NET Core is a free and open-source web framework and successor to ASP.NET, developed by Microsoft. It is a modular framework that runs on both the full .NET Framework, on Windows, and the cross-platform .NET. However, ASP.NET Core version 3 on ...

Browser extension A browser extension is a small software module for customizing a web browser. Browsers typically allow a variety of extensions, including user interface modifications, cookie management, ad blocking, and the custom scripting and styling of web p ...

support for Edge *

Windows 10 Anniversary Update Windows 10 Anniversary Update (also known as version 1607 and codenamed "Redstone 1") is the second major update to Windows 10 and the first in a series of updates under the Redstone codenames. It carries the build number 10.0.14393. This update, ...

* Xamarin ** Free for individuals, open source projects, academic research, education, and small professional teams. ** Remoted iOS Simulator for Windows

2017

The 2017 Build conference took place at the Washington State Convention Center in Downtown Seattle, Washington from May 10 to May 12, 2017. It had been at Moscone Center for the previous four years. However, Moscone center was undergoing renovations from April through August 2017. The Seattle location brought the conference close to the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The price remained at $2195 for the 2017 conference. There were no devices given away at this conference to attendees. Highlights: *

Azure Cosmos DB Azure Cosmos DB is Microsoft's proprietary globally distributed, multi-model database service "for managing data at planet-scale" launched in May 2017. It is schema-agnostic, horizontally scalable, and generally classified as a NoSQL database. ...

* Visual Studio for Mac * WSL: Fedora and SUSE support *

Xamarin Live Player Xamarin is a Microsoft-owned San Francisco-based software company founded in May 2011 by the engineers that created Mono, Xamarin.Android (formerly Mono for Android) and Xamarin.iOS (formerly MonoTouch), which are cross-platform implementation ...

* Windows 10 Fall Creators Update *

Microsoft Fluent Design System Fluent Design System (codenamed "Project Neon"), officially unveiled as Microsoft Fluent Design System, is a design language developed in 2017 by Microsoft. Fluent Design is a revamp of Microsoft Design Language (popularly known as "Metro") ...

2018

The 2018 Build conference took place at the Washington State Convention Center in Downtown Seattle, Washington May 7 to May 9, 2018. The price has increased $300 to $2495 for the 2018 conference. The conference was preceded by the Windows Developer Awards 2018 ceremony. Highlights: * .NET **

.NET Core 3 The domain name net is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from the word ''network'', indicating it was originally intended for organizations involved in networking technologies ...

** ML.NET * Azure ** Azure CDN ** Azure Confidential Computing ** Azure Database Migration Service ** Azure Maps * Microsoft 365 * Microsoft Store: increased developer revenue share (95%; Non-Game App via deeplink only) * Visual Studio ** App Center ** IntelliCode ** Live Share *

Windows 10 Redstone 5 Windows 10 is a series of operating systems developed by Microsoft. Microsoft described Windows 10 as an " operating system as a service" that would receive ongoing updates to its features and functionality, augmented with the ability for enter ...

Cloud Clipboard The clipboard is a buffer that some operating systems provide for short-term storage and transfer within and between application programs. The clipboard is usually temporary and unnamed, and its contents reside in the computer's RAM. The clipboard ...

** Microsoft Notepad: Unix/Linux EOL support * Xamarin ** Hyper-V Android Emulator ** Automatic iOS Device Provisioning **

Xamarin.Essentials Xamarin is a Microsoft-owned San Francisco-based software company founded in May 2011 by the engineers that created Mono, Xamarin.Android (formerly Mono for Android) and Xamarin.iOS (formerly MonoTouch), which are cross-platform implementation ...

** Xamarin.Forms 3.0

2019

The 2019 Build conference took place at the Washington State Convention Center in Downtown Seattle, Washington from May 6 to May 8, 2019 plus optional post-event learning activities on next two days. The price decreased $100 to $2395 for the 2019 conference. Registration started on February 27. Highlights: *

.NET 5 The domain name net is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from the word ''network'', indicating it was originally intended for organizations involved in networking technologies ...

: next multi-platform .NET Core * Azure:

Azure SQL Database Edge Azure may refer to: Colour * Azure (color), a hue of blue ** Azure (heraldry) ** Shades of azure, shades and variations Arts and media * ''Azure'' (Art Farmer and Fritz Pauer album), 1987 * Azure (Gary Peacock and Marilyn Crispell album), 2013 ...

Fluid Framework Fluid is a free and open source computer platform for real-time collaboration across applications. Microsoft first demonstrated the software at its Build conference in May 2019 as a framework that would allow for real-time collaboration betwee ...

* Visual Studio: IntelliCode * Visual Studio Code: Remote Development Extension Pack * Visual Studio Online *

Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

* Windows Terminal: cmd.exe, PowerShell, and WSL in tabs

2020

Microsoft announced the dates for Build, and their other large conferences on September 16, 2019, with pricing set at $2395. The physical 2020 Build conference, scheduled to take place in downtown Seattle, Washington from May 19 to May 21, 2020, was initially cancelled due the coronavirus pandemic. On April 20, 2020, Microsoft opened sign-ups for a replacement, virtual event, held the same date as the originally intended physical event; the virtual event was free of charge. Highlights: *

.NET Multi-platform App UI Xamarin is a Microsoft-owned San Francisco-based software company founded in May 2011 by the engineers that created Mono (software), Mono, Mono (software)#Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.Android (formerly Mono for Android) and Mono (software)#Xamarin.i ...

(.NET MAUI) * Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) ** GPU support (for CUDA and DirectML) *

Windows Package Manager The Windows Package Manager (also known as winget) is a free and open-source package manager designed by Microsoft for Windows 10 and Windows 11. It consists of a command-line utility and a set of services for installing applications. Independent ...

2021

The 2021 conference, once again a free-of-charge virtual event, was held on May 25 to 27, 2021. Highlights: *

.NET 6 The domain name net is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from the word ''network'', indicating it was originally intended for organizations involved in networking technologies ...

Azure Azure may refer to: Colour * Azure (color), a hue of blue ** Azure (heraldry) ** Shades of azure, shades and variations Arts and media * ''Azure'' (Art Farmer and Fritz Pauer album), 1987 * Azure (Gary Peacock and Marilyn Crispell album), 2013 ...

Azure AI Services Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as a ...

Azure Bot Service Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as a ...

Azure Metrics Advisor Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as a ...

Azure Video Analyzer Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as a ...

** Azure Cognitive Services *

Power Fx Microsoft Power Fx is a free and open source low-code, general-purpose programming language for expressing logic across the Microsoft Power Platform. It was first announced at Ignite 2021 and the specification was released in March 2021. It is ...

* PyTorch Enterprise on Microsoft Azure *

Microsoft Build of OpenJDK OpenJDK (Open Java Development Kit) is a free and open-source implementation of the Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE). It is the result of an effort Sun Microsystems began in 2006. The implementation is licensed under the GPL-2.0-only wi ...

* Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI (WSLg)

2022

The 2022 conference, once again a free-of-charge virtual event, was held on May 24 to 26, 2022.

Attendee Party Venues

*2011: The Grove *2012: Seattle Armory *2013: Pier 48 *2014: AMC Metreon *2015: AMC Metreon *2016: Block Party Yerba Ln *2017: CenturyLink Field *2018: Museum of Pop Culture / Chihuly Garden and Glass *2019: CenturyLink Field *2020: Online *2021: Online *2022: Online

References

External links

*
Build Event on MSDN Channel 9

Build Sessions on Microsoft.com

Events on Microsoft Docs

DevBlogs on Microsoft.com
{{Microsoft Microsoft conferences