The Top 5 Biggest Announcements at Microsoft Build 2021

Last week, Microsoft hosted their latest digital event – Microsoft Build 2021, a developer conference that highlights Microsoft’s latest new opportunities for developers across the modern tech stack.

If you weren’t able to tune in last week, here is a recap of the major announcements you missed at the conference.

  1. Project Reunion .08 Preview: On the first day of the conference, Microsoft announced their new Project Reunion app framework. The project was originally launched in March and has been designed to unify development platforms. The .08 version includes down-level support for Windows 10 version 1809 and up, .NET5 support, and better WinUI3 and WebView2 support. These updates better allow the build of apps even if they come from different starting points.
  2. Edge Browser Updates: Microsoft’s new web browser released some changes and new features. They claim the new version of Microsoft Edge will be “the best performing browser on Windows 10.” The Edge browser also now loads automatically when computers startup and offers “sleeping tabs” that put tabs to sleep so they don’t use unnecessary memory and CPU cycles.
  3. 5 Additional Azure Services Are Now Cloud Friendly: Azure customers can now run five additional application services anywhere they like through Kubernetes and Azure Arc. Gabe Monroy, VP of Azure Developer Experience said “any CNCF-conformant Kubernetes cluster connected through Azure Arc is now fully supported deployment target for Azure application services.”
  4. Microsoft Teams Collaboration: As a result of COVID-19, Microsoft is laser-focused on collaboration. At Microsoft Build, they announced new options for building collaborative apps in Teams. These features include shared staged integration, together mode extensibility, and media APIs and resource-specific content. Additionally, Microsoft announced new tools for sharing content across Outlook and Teams.
  5. Future of Windows: During CEO, Satya Nadella’s keynote, he shared that they will soon “share one of the most significant updates to Windows of the past decade.” He also said it will be called the “next generation of Windows,” and he has been using it personally for months.