Microsoft has announced new tools and feature updates for the developer community on day one of its three-day (May 24-26) annual Build 2022 conference. Most of the features are aimed at making it easier for developers to create native apps for multiple platforms, migrate to the Azure cloud, build collaborative experience in Teams, and improve discoverability of apps on the Microsoft store.
Here are the key announcements from Microsoft Build 2022:
Making migration and modernization using Azure simple
Microsoft is adding new features in Azure to make cloud migration and modernization simple for companies. Features for migration include a grouping of virtual machines and physical servers to ensure none of the components are left out during the migration to Azure. Microsoft is also adding a pause and resume function in Azure that will let companies schedule migration during non-peak periods. For companies modernizing their infrastructure using Azure, Microsoft is adding the option to discover and modernize ASP.NET web apps to the native Azure application service.
New developer tools and deployment environment
Microsoft is launching a new tool called Dev Box for developers. Microsoft claims it will rescue onboarding time and the difficulty developers face while switching between tasks. Dev Box will give them access to self-service cloud workstations that are “pre-configured” and “ready to code.” With Azure Deployment Environment, developers can quickly ready app infrastructure using project templates.
Helping developers build native apps across multiple OS
Microsoft’s .NET Multi-platform app UI (MAUI) framework, which allows developers to build native apps for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows is now available to all. Microsoft claims it will make it easier for developers to build apps for multiple operating systems. With .NET MAUI, developers can build hybrid web apps using C# programming language instead of JavaScript. Developers can also reuse one set of web UI components across mobile, desktop, and web.
Windows developers get more to play with
In addition to .NET MAUI, Microsoft announced that the Windows subsystem for Android that allows Windows 11 to run Android apps is now available on Android Open-Source Project 12.1. It is available in preview on Microsoft Store. It comes with new features such as windowing, resizing, enhanced networking, and developer tool integration. Microsoft said later this year developers will be able to do more with widgets in Win32 and progressive web apps (PWA) on Windows 11. For Windows devices running on ARM processors, Microsoft announced an ARM-native developer toolchain that includes compatible versions of Visual Studio 2022, VC++, .NET & .NET Framework. Microsoft also said that it is working to support OpenJDK, Python, LL VM, Node, and Git as open-source projects for ARM64.
Building collaborative experiences in Teams
Seeing the important role Microsoft Teams now plays for hybrid workers, Microsoft has announced tools that will help developers create apps that will improve the collaborative experience for workers. For instance, using the Live Share tool, developers can build apps where users can annotate, edit and share content in various ways.
Allowing developers to advertise apps on the Microsoft Store
To help developers get their apps discovered more often on the Microsoft Store on Windows, Microsoft has announced a feature called Store Ads. This will help developers create ad campaigns using Microsoft advertising and show ads for their apps to more users.
New training and certifications under Microsoft Learn
To help developers learn new skills, Microsoft is expanding the training and certification in the Learn platform. New certifications will focus on cloud games, robotic process automation (RPA), cybersecurity architecture, and Exam readiness.
Low code platform gets new features
Microsoft’s low code website builder Power Pages has been redesigned and new features have been added to it. It includes a new design studio that will make it easy to design and publish websites. It also offers a new Template hub and access to security tools. Microsoft has also integrated Power Pages with Visual Studio, GitHub, and Azure DevOps.
Expanding AI capabilities for developers
Azure Cognitive Services which allow developers to bring AI capabilities to their apps has received two new features. The first feature, called the Azure OpenAI service, will help developers enable reasoning in apps on writing assistance and code generation and fine-tune and mitigate bias in AI. The second feature, called Cognitive service for language, offers a summarization feature that will help developers discover key information from documents.
