Since we are now in the era of digital conferences and meetups, Microsoft’s popular Build conference turned digital too with the event being free for everyone and the first 1000 registrants getting a sweet Swag box from Microsoft.
The keynote by Satya Nadella was as usual on-point with the current situation we are in and the Developer keynote by Scott Hanselman was a work of art. I highly recommend you to go rewatch it on Channel 9 where they will post all the sessions from the Conference.
Below are a few announcements that got me excited and some of the things I am looking forward to.
WSL 2 is GA with Window May update
WSL 2 will be generally available in Windows 10, version 2004
Microsoft took the developer community by storm with the introduction of WSL (Windows Subsystem Linux) a few years ago. I personally dealt with lots of linux fans that were in shock that they could get Ubuntu on Windows without needing to setup a VM. Now with WSL2, it only gets better. WSL 2 now supports full system calls thanks to the Linux kernel that windows is now being shipped with. The year of Linux desktop is finally here thanks to Windows!!!.
Also Docker desktop now uses WSL 2 to deliver docker to you instead of the traditional way of a Hyper-V VM.
Some of the great features that will be added to WSL2 is support for linux GUI apps on windows. You can launch linux GUI apps and work with them as if you are on a linux machine, saving you the hassle of setting up a X-server.
Windows Terminal is GA
Windows Terminal is a must on any windows machine now. Whether you work with Powershell, Azure or WSL, Windows terminal is the place to be for all that. If you haven’t yet used it, I would highly recommend you to go and download it right away from the Microsoft Store.
ARM template changes (Public Preview)
If you are like me and live inside ARM templates, these updates will be a great addition for you. “What-if” feature to assess what your template will do to the environment and the ability to call powershell or bash scripts from within your ARM templates. I have yet to try these features out, but just excited to see them added.
Build Book of News
There are lots and lots of other announcements and you can them all summarized in this amazing pdf below.
BuildBookofNews.5.12.955
Build Cloud Skills Challenge
There is this amazing Cloud Skills challenge as part of Build 2020 that will go on until June 2nd. By just taking part it and completing one collection on Microsoft Learn, you will get a free Microsoft Exam voucher and also enter in a draw to win some amazing prices. Check out the details here: https://cloudskillschallenge.docs.microsoft.com/en-us/build/leaderboard
Go Team Tera!!!!
Conclusion
This was a great virtual event and Microsoft set the standard for virtual conferences with MSBuild 2020. See the following article by CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/21/tech/microsoft-build-event-2020/index.html
I really enjoyed the conference while geeking about it with my friends and colleagues at New Signature. We have a massive Teams thread that so far has closed in on 300 messages and somehow Star Wars found its way into that thread as it always does.
Stay Safe Everyone!!
Hammad's Blog! 
Leave a Reply