Microsoft has followed Apple in announcing the official dates of its virtual developer’s conference Build 2021.
Despite posting on April Fool’s Day, April 1, 2021, Donovan Brown a Microsoft Partner Program Manager took to Twitter to officially announce that from May 25, 2021, through May 27, 2021, Microsoft will host its annual developer’s conference online.
That moment you go to confirm the dates of #MSBuild and find this! Hey that is me!!! 🙂 Can't wait! Let's do this!!! pic.twitter.com/bBdV9orRpz
— Donovan Brown #BlackLivesMatter (@DonovanBrown) April 1, 2021
While it might seem like the set up to an elaborate prank from a Microsoft executive, a company spokesperson has confirmed the dates previously speculated above with ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley. The dedicated Build website has yet to reflect the news, which may just be an issue of timing for now.
The late May timing comes as speculation of a Spring Surface hardware event swirl in conjunction with Microsoft’s own intentions to host several “What’s Next” virtual events for its Windows and gaming divisions among other businesses this year. The first of its “What’s Next” virtual events happened a little over a month ago in February dubbed What’s Next for Cloud, where the company covered its vertical cloud bundles in addition to its first of two-part Ignite conferences for 2021.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, Microsoft is reconsidering its conferences and messaging platforms in 2021 by not only hosting them almost exclusively virtually but breaking them out into more concise and focus-driven events spaced out over the year. Aside from the dates, there isn’t much else to go on regarding what Microsoft may or may not cover at Build. If history serves as an indicator, there should be talk about AI, machine learning, and a plethora of cloud integrations, and hopefully, Microsoft will be able to squeeze in talk of its new Sun Valley overhaul as well as what Windows 10X is and some clarification about who it’s for.
