The Microsoft Build tour is the only way to experience Microsoft Build news first hand and meet the Microsoft team from Redmond.
Sitting in a packed audience on the last leg of the Microsoft Build Tour 2017in Sydney, I was excited to learn more about using the Microsoft platform tools and all the latest systems that will be available. First up on the agenda was a brief discussion on additional distributions on the Windows subsystem for Linux which are OpenSUSE and Fedora. The latest updates dubbed Fall update (based on Northern Hemisphere climate) on Cortana will bring to life the Microsoft Timeline, this functionality will give you the ability to continue working where one has left off on a ‘work’ laptop to your phone (iOS and Android) and then pick up again on a home device if it meets the company’s security policy. Microsoft Timeline also paves the way for cloud powered clipboard! – Yes, that’s right, a copy from the laptop can be pasted on your mobile device, which means things like no more sending yourself emails to get that PDF flight ticket. Windows Store is in line for some improvements too with iTunes and Spotify apps on its way – which is great news for some of the budding DJs in our office. The presentation also showcased some local talent showing off Stan and iAuditor as homegrown flourishing apps.
For me, the biggest news is the Azure space with the emphasis being solely on Innovation + Trust + Results as being the tag line on which the engineering team pivots. Catching up over docker containers was a highlight as we were shown how a container helps with an existing web application running on a specific technology stack can be transitioned across to Azure within the container. What we learnt was that you are in control of the stack all the way through and it can be built to match your continuous deployment strategy! Current container ecosystem supported is Swarm, Kubernetes and DC/OS with Service Fabric dropping immanently.
Another win is the approval from Australian Signals Directorate which certifies Azure to host and manage government data, so if the GOV folks are happy, it can provide a level of comfort that one’s data stands securely and safely but always make sure to practise effective information security policies. SQL on Azure continues to grow and with the 2017 release, there is now Azure DB migration service to help with seamless, near zero downtime when one needs to transition a database from on premise to the cloud or from one cloud instance to another.
Some of the other products that they introduced on tour was the Microsoft Fluent Design. This will provide the next wave of creativity for developers to capture all the great aspects of mixed reality and provide a guided path on how to approach this bold new area.
And lastly, Paint 3D is coming as part of the creators fall update! It might freak out some of our clients with a 3D screenshot of a web page that could be turned around to help show performance statistics related to the data surfaced on the page.
Handy links to read up on
http://aka.ms/botdesign
https://www.asd.gov.au/infosec/irap/index.htm
http://fluent.microsoft.com/
I am feeling motivated and geared up, about all these new updates from the team at Microsoft! I can’t wait to test them out. If you would like to discuss any of the above, feel free to contact us on hello@walkerscott.co