Latest announcements from Build 2021

Build is Microsoft’s annual event for developers by developers. This year’s virtual experience allows developers around the globe to meet the engineers behind our products and gain the skills you need to solve problems quickly, collaborate, innovate, and ship from anywhere.

Our core announcements this year contextualize our commitment to developers, and they set the foundation to meet their needs.

Increase Developer Velocity with Microsoft’s end-to-end developer platform

A primary goal is to land how we can increase Developer Velocity by empowering every developer to build apps and solutions with Microsoft’s comprehensive developer tools and platform. We are making several key announcements in Scott Guthrie’s Build overview blog, mapped to the three key pillars of the Developer Velocity framework:

• Build productively: the latest update of Visual Studio 2019 is generally available and we released the roadmap for Visual Studio 2022. Microsoft Teams announced new features developers can use to build innovative scenarios and extend Teams meetings, and the enhanced Microsoft Teams Toolkit simplifies app development for Teams. We also announced a number of new features in our Windows developer tool offerings to provide increased satisfaction and productivity.
• Collaborate globally and securely: we announced a new way to foster shared responsibility and collaboration between development and SecOps teams. This will help teams integrate security into early stages of the development cycle and ensure visibility for the security teams, rather than address issues after software has shipped.
• Scale your innovation: our latest Azure innovations enable developers to modernize existing apps as well as build cloud-native ones. We’re making it easier to modernize enterprise Java applications in Azure with the Microsoft Build of OpenJDK and more. We announced the preview capability of Azure application services to run on Kubernetes and anywhere with Azure Arc. This enables customers to run their favorite Azure application services anywhere, including on-premises, on the edge, and on other clouds such as AWS or Google. Any Kubernetes cluster connected through Azure Arc is now a supported deployment target for Azure’s application services. New extensions further unlock the power of the Visual Studio family and the Power Platform together. And we’re bringing an intuitive AI-assisted maker experience to Power Fx (the open-source formula language for Power Platform), powered by GPT-3 AI, the world’s largest natural language model.

Deliver new intelligent cloud-native applications by harnessing the power of Data and AI

The second story we are telling at Build emphasizes how customers can accelerate innovation within their organization by delivering new intelligent cloud-native app experiences with Azure data and AI. John ‘JG’ Chirapurath’s summary blog covers several new capabilities and offers that make it easy and cost-effective for developers to get started with Azure data and AI services.

• Innovate with Azure database services: Azure SQL Database’s new ledger capability provides cryptographic verification for sensitive records. Azure Synapse Link for Microsoft Dataverse provides immediate insights from Dynamics 365 and Power Platform applications, while Power BI streaming dataflows removes any bottleneck from signals to insights. Several updates to Azure Cosmos DB help developers build and modernize high-performance applications at any scale, including Azure Cosmos DB serverless, Azure Cosmos DB integrated cache, Always Encrypted for Azure Cosmos DB, and Azure Cosmos DB Role-based access control (RBAC). We also announced new low-cost and free options for Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, and Azure Database for MySQL.
• Build intelligent applications with Azure AI: a new category of services called Azure Applied AI Services combines Azure Cognitive Services with task-specific AI and business logic, so developers can accelerate building AI solutions for common scenarios, (e.g. document processing, customer service, and extracting insights from content). We announced updates to specific Applied AI services such as Azure Bot Service, Azure Metrics Advisor, and Azure Video Analyzer. We also announced how developers can extend Applied AI Services by bringing their own custom models from Azure Machine Learning. The new managed endpoints in Azure Machine Learning enables developers to automate the creation and management of infrastructure used to serve models into applications. Finally, we’re helping developers using Power Apps turn natural language into code and program by example with an AI-powered app development approach powered by the OpenAI GPT-3 model, one of the largest natural language models in the world, which runs on Azure Machine Learning’s managed endpoints.

Build cloud-native applications your way and run them anywhere

Our third story at Build, outlined in Gabe Monroy’s summary blog, covers how customers can build cloud-native applications their way and run them anywhere. They can move from ideas to applications rapidly with turnkey application services from Azure, now available on Kubernetes and anywhere with Azure Arc.

• Azure application services: your apps, run anywhere: Azure applications services can now run on Kubernetes and anywhere with Azure Arc. This enables customers to use their favorite Azure application services anywhere, including on-premises, on the edge, and Multicloud such as AWS or Google.
• Innovate faster with turnkey application services: Azure’s application services suite (comprised of Azure App Service, Azure Functions, Azure Logic Apps, Azure Event Grid, and Azure API Management) are designed to work together and are highly optimized for developer productivity.
• The productivity of application services with the control of Kubernetes: we announced that any Kubernetes cluster connected through Azure Arc is now a supported deployment target for Azure’s application services, enhancing the developer experience.
• Run your apps anywhere with Azure Arc: developers can now save time building hybrid applications using the portable application services powered by Azure Arc. Combined with the use of Arc-enabled data services, applications and their data can now run anywhere using fully managed cloud services – an industry first.
• Manage workloads at scale with consistency: the recently announced general availability of Arc-enabled Kubernetes helps customers manage and govern workloads across environments. We also announced the general availability of Azure Kubernetes Services on Azure Stack HCI, which provides customers with a managed Kubernetes control plane.

Build the next generation of collaborative apps for hybrid work

Our fourth story articulates how developers can build the next generation of collaborative apps for hybrid work. In Nicole Herskowitz’s summary blog, we cover the rise of a new class of apps called “collaborative apps” built for the hybrid workplace – centered around collaboration versus individual productivity and provide the flexibility to work from anywhere, with anyone, and at any time.

• Build collaborative apps with Microsoft Teams: Teams was built for enabling collaboration and we have several features and tools to build these experiences. New meeting features and APIs like shared stage, meeting event APIs, media APIs and together mode extensibility empower the development of richer meeting experiences. But collaboration isn’t limited to only inside Teams, we’re also sharing how developers can build with Fluid components in Teams messages (coming soon to private preview) and build message extensions that work in Teams and Outlook on web. We’re also making it easier for admins and users to purchase apps directly from Teams. We’ve also enhanced the Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio/Visual Studio Code and Developer Portal to make it even easier to build, configure, and manage apps. And lastly, as of today, we are releasing the private preview of Fluid components in Teams chat and expanding the roll out in the coming months to more customers.
• Deliver experiences centered on data, intelligence, and security with Microsoft Graph: The Microsoft Graph is a rich source of data centered around an organization’s people that enriches both 1st party and 3rd party experiences across apps and devices like Universal actions for Adaptive Cards. And more than ever, Microsoft Graph is a connection point that allows 3rd party solutions to participate in 1st party experiences through Graph Connectors that enable search, eDiscovery, and more. The richness and scale of the datasets in Microsoft Graph allow us to develop AI/ML powered solutions to transform collaboration like Viva Connections extensibility via SPFx and Microsoft Graph Data Connect.
• Build modern Windows apps that work seamless on any endpoint: With the shift to remote and now hybrid work – the PC has never been more essential. Developers can utilize a unified set of APIs and tools used in a consistent way to build modern apps with the latest iteration of Project Reunion 0.8 preview to build seamlessly across client and cloud endpoints with key updates like down-level support to Windows 10 version 1809, .NET 5 support, WinUI 3 and WebView 2 support. Developers can also receive GUI app support on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), so all the tools and workflows are easily available. And now, Windows Terminal can now be set as the default terminal emulator – enabling all command-line apps to launch via Windows Terminal.

Build differentiated SaaS apps with the Microsoft Cloud

In addition to these four hero stories, we are featuring another core story focused on building differentiated SaaS apps using the entirety of the Microsoft Cloud, particularly to solve industry-specific challenges. In Charles Lamanna’s blog, you can read more about how Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, GitHub, Visual Studio, and Microsoft’s industry-specific solutions come together to empower developers to move quickly and compose powerful SaaS solutions.

ADDITIONAL KEY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Microsoft Azure

• Azure is the home for your enterprise Java applications. We are making it easier to modernize enterprise Java applications in Azure. The Microsoft Build of OpenJDK is free and open source and, today, it is generally available with commercial support on Azure and Azure Stack. Red Hat JBoss EAP is now available on Azure Virtual Machines, allowing you to scale your apps with VM Scale Sets, and IBM WebSphere is also available on Azure Virtual Machines now with automated solution templates to simplify its deployment. Both offerings come with joint support from Microsoft and both Red Hat and IBM, respectively. Learn more about our latest innovation for Java on Azure in this blog post.

Microsoft Power Platform

• Power Platform is the best way for teams to build together. Power Platform enables fusion teams to create apps, automations, and bots together to support organizations who want to deliver solutions faster and more effectively. Command line interface (CLI) support for Power Platform enables collaboration between citizen and pro developers with source code file management and packaging. Native Power Platform Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code integrations empower developers to use the tooling of their choice. Application lifecycle management (ALM) accelerator for Power Platform empowers developers with seamless extensibility across Power Platform, GitHub, and Azure. These new features will help developers easily participate in fusion teams and bring value to their organizations in record time.
• Power Apps enables people to build apps using simple language with GPT-3 AI. Developers can now save time and build more complex solutions by using natural language to build apps – no coding required. Makers will be able to use natural language to describe their goal, which will be transformed into Power Fx, the low code textual programming language announced earlier this year, using AI. This experience is powered by GPT-3, the world’s largest natural language model from Open AI, running on Azure ML, and the Program Synthesis using Examples SDK.
• New process mining capabilities in Power Automate and general availability of Process Advisor. Process advisor is the process mining capability that helps users identify which activities take the most time across an organization that might benefit from optimization or automation.
• New capabilities in Power BI to support end to end secure analytics for big and streaming data. Gain instant insights with streaming dataflows in Power BI Premium and Azure Synapse Analytics. With a self-service low code/no code build experience, users can connect to real-time data sources and bring in reference data to perform Extract transform load (ETL) operations like joins and filters, which can reduce costs and free up IT resources.

Security, Compliance, and Identity

• Identity announcements for developers. Azure AD continuous access evaluation (CAE) in Microsoft Graph and Azure AD access reviews for service principals are now in preview. With CAE APIs in Microsoft Graph, developers can make their apps more secure by having Azure AD continuously monitor security threats and revoke users’ access tokens, based on critical events or policy evaluation. Azure AD access reviews now enables you to set periodic reviews of service principals and apps that are assigned to privileged roles. To help developers build Zero Trust ready apps, we published the new guidance in the Zero Trust Resource Center.
• Microsoft Graph connectors and APIs enable compliance beyond Microsoft. With Microsoft 365 connected apps powered by Microsoft Graph connectors we are enabling built-in compliance value (starting with Advance eDiscovery) to 130+ external sources - including but not limited to Salesforce, ServiceNow, Adobe, etc. To learn more visit the compliance blog.