Build 2016 and the Upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Goodies
By in
Last week I had the truly great honor and privilege of attending my very first Microsoft Build conference. It was an incredible experience; surrounded by developers, creators, architects and dreamers who share the same passion for Windows and all things Microsoft. There were enough sessions, labs, and exhibits to fill the day ten times over, and of course not enough time to see them all! There were many fantastic announcements, which have certainly made the rounds on the web. I’m not going to try and duplicate that content (although if you are looking for a thorough recap, your best place to start is going to be straight from the source). Rather, I want to highlight the upcoming features and announcements most exciting, relevant, and interesting to a Windows Developer like me, and share my initial experiences after spending the week playing with some of them. I expect as I dive deeper into each of these new technologies to share more, so stay tuned and definitely let me know your experiences and what you’d like to see explored further! There’s SO MUCH to be excited about, and of course, I HAVE to start with arguably the coolest thing Microsoft shared at the event (or probably ever).
HoloLens is Real!
Until now, HoloLens has been something I’ve had to observe from a painful distance, grasping what I could from blogs, videos, and photos from other lucky enough to actually see one. I had no idea what to expect, or what the experience would be like, and certainly not what it would be like to actually use and more importantly develop for the device. All that changed with Build, where at long last I was able to put my hands on (and my head into!) a real, live device… and I’m beyond pleased and excited to declare that the wait was absolutely worth it! Even better than that, both Lino and I enjoyed a three hour hands-on HoloLens crash course!
We were taken step by step through the entire workflow of developing not only our first app, but a fun little interactive game, complete with avatars and bullets flying from our fingers. I didn’t even have to say “pew pew” (although, of course, I totally did). I will admit that the first few moments with the device were a bit unnerving; I heard a bit about the limited field of view, and my immediate reaction upon trying on the device was to agree that the size was probably going to hinder the experience. It took about 3 minutes to unequivocallyreverse those feelings; the more I used it, the more I was able to fully immerse myself into the experience, and it’s amazing what this team has accomplished. The HoloLens is absolutely LEGIT, and is truly a revolutionary experience that entirely and thoroughly exceeded my expectations (and those expectations were already really high)!
Trying it out
For those of us not able to yet get their hands on a device, both a HoloLens emulator and a preview version of Unity that supports HoloLens projects are now available for download. I definitely didn’t hesitate, and fired up Visual Studio just to get a feel for the experience. Here’s the stock project template from the preview running in the emulator, which uses Direct3D to render a box:
How cool is that? Attendees of the HoloLens course also got a copy of the project, which I’m already playing with in Unity:
I still have a lot to learn about Unity and 3D development in general (whole new world for me), but at least I know the tools all work, and they work great! If you’re interested, I made a raw recording of my experience both installing and launching the HoloLens emulator and poking around the tool. It’s roughly edited, but if you’d like to peek over the shoulder of a developer’s first experience with HoloLens feel free to take a look. There’s a lot of loading and waiting, so I recommend you watch it at 2x speed if your player allows it: Download Video As I mention in the video, there’s SO MUCH MORE to learn and do with this, and I do hope to produce more of these types of videos as I continue to dive in and learn, so stay tuned if you want to follow along. Clearly the highlight of at Build, at least for me, I’m absolutely thrilled to finally be able to dive into this new world of development. But wait, that’s not all there is to be excited about!
Kick Some Bot
One of the biggest surprises for me at Build was the announcement of the new Bot Framework for creating intelligent and interactive bots. I had never heard of this before it was demonstrated on stage and what a pleasant surprise it was to discover! Creating an interactive bot communicating directly through familiar tools like Skype and SMS is a fantastic idea to connect directly to users, lowering barriers and reducing response times to practically zero. No more waiting for a web page to load or an app to launch. Your answers are literally just a text away. The natural language stuff was equally impressive; I knew that Microsoft was doing a lot of work in this space but I had no idea they were so far along. The tools look intuitive but powerful, and certainly lay the foundation for a new generation of problem-solving and productivity enhancing tools and apps.
Trying it out
Having never heard of this tool I definitely expected getting started with bot development to be a more difficult task than it was. However, the docs and tooling are quite robust and intuitive, even for a preview, and I was up and running in no time. I created an extremely simple bot that spits out mixes from my archive of DJ mixes on mixcloud:
Certainly nothing fancy, but definitely something that works, on the first try, no less! There is unlimited potential for this new framework, and I can’t wait to dive in further and discover how we can use this new framework for our various projects and customers.
UWP Comes to Xbox One
This was another welcome surprise announced in the keynote, and brings developers one step closer to completely fulfilling the promise of “Universal” and “one Windows”. This is something that, despite not being much of a gamer, I’ve kept an eye on for a while now. The thought of being able to leverage existing XAML and C# skills to target a device as unique as Xbox (not to mention HoloLens!) is as enticing as it is exciting. With the announcement of the Xbox Dev Mode, I can finally give this a shot! As I said, I’m not much of a gamer, but Xbox is so much more than a gaming console, and with this announcement there is now room for all kinds of developers to contribute to this great platform.
Trying it out
Setting up the new developer mode was, yet again, surprisingly easy. It is clear that all the effort spent by Microsoft over the past few years in laying a solid foundation are really paying off; I cannot recall a single time that so many new things went so well on the first try, so kudos to all teams involved! That being said, I figured given my success so far, I’d really push my luck and skip the whole “Hello, World” project and test to see if they really, really mean it when they say “universal”. The result was, as is now usual, a complete success:
Yes, that is Falafel2Go, our showcase sample app, which last year was updated to Windows 10, now running on an Xbox One, without a hitch, on the very first try, all without modifying a single line of code or XAML! The promise was real, folks, Universal apps are here and they are AWESOME!
The List Goes On
In addition to diving in further on these exciting new features, there’s so much more that was announced and made available at Build, as well as many cool things I was able to learn and try out. Xamarin going free is certainly among the more exciting developer-specific announcements, further cementing Microsoft’s commitment to making Windows a home to all. I look forward to trying this out just as soon as I can get my hands on a (gasp!) mac! New UWP features and enhancements like chaseable tiles and GPU powered animations and effects continue to close gaps and developmental barriers, allowing developers to create more interactive and intuitive apps, in a faster cadence and with reduced effort. The new Tile and Notification features look slick, especially the ability to sync their status both across the OS and even other devices. Even more support for sharing your app’s features across multiple devices (and platforms!) is coming and looks promising; stay tuned for a more detailed look at this soon. All this of course is already available to play with in the release of the Windows 10 Anniversary Preview to Windows Insiders, which I have installed and should have more to say on after I have a chance to dig deeper. Cortana gets new integration points not only with the end user of the OS, but with developers as well, lighting up new entry points to your app, adding more ways for you to engage your users. The Surface Pen finally becomes a first-class citizen in Windows 10, with new and enhanced inking features for both productivity and interactivity, and simple integration for developers. In fact, I attended a hands-on UWP lab led by Andy Wigley where we accomplished this with just a few lines of code and XAML. Speaking of labs, the IoT sessions were a BLAST! Windows 10 for IoT opens the door to hardware newbies like me, who have always had an interest and desire to get started, but never felt like we could cross that barrier. I was able to create and deploy a project to the Raspberry Pi 3, interacting with the different sensors and LED outputs using my familiar XAML/C# skills, all within a few minutes, yet again right on the first try!
And just to come full circle, I ended (literally!) my time at Build as the lucky last group to tour the Destination Mars HoloLens Exhibit.
This experience truly highlights the potential and value of the new HoloLens platform. It was simultaneously stunning, beautiful, exciting, and humbling to share in this experience; a testament to not only what an exciting time it is to be alive, but an inspiring glimpse into what is yet to come.
Wrapping Up, Until Next Year!
If it is not already abundantly clear, Build 2016 was an absolute thrill; I’m both honored and humbled to have been able to attend in person. I learned and experienced so much, and I’m (even more) excited for the future, for the obvious things like HoloLens, but also for the continued improvement for UWP and the fulfillment of the promise of truly universal apps, not to mention all the brand new goodies like Bots and intelligent APIs that will undoubtedly breed an entire new generation of apps. I find myself saying this every year, and yet this year is no different, and even more true than ever: it truly is a GREAT time to be a Windows Developer! Until next year, thanks Build, and many heartfelt thanks to Lino and Falafel for the opportunity to share this amazing experience!
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