Digging into the Build 2016 Schedule

Although Microsoft's annual developer conference Build, which begins this week in San Francisco, is full of information that is primarily focused towards developers there are some breakout sessions that will be of interest to IT Pros.

The event features big keynotes that begin Day 1 and Day 2 of the event and then there are hundreds of breakout sessions being offered to attendees. The keynotes and possibly some of the sessions will be live streamed over on the Channel 9 Build Event Page however, all of the sessions are usually made available for on-demand viewing shortly after the conference.

So while you are tuning in for the keynotes keep an eye on these sessions that should be on your to watch list.

Enabling DevOps for Every Team

Take a guided tour of Visual Studio Team Services & Team Foundation Server with Jeremy Epling and Donovan Brown. During this session we'll show you the products & services that will shape your process and enable your teams to build amazing applications on any platform. There will be several new announcements to help your team adopt new Agile, Git, and DevOps practices!

Windows in the Enterprise

Windows 10 is seeing great momentum in the enterprise. What does it mean for you as either an IT Professional or Enterprise Developer? Rob Lefferts will look at the things you should know about Windows today and how you should think about it in your organization going forward.

Microsoft Edge: What's Next for Microsoft's New Browser and Web Platform

In 2015, Microsoft launched its first new browser in 20 years: Microsoft Edge. After 8 months, it's on a great trajectory but we're just getting started. Join us to learn about the progress we've made, feedback we've heard, and a whirlwind tour of improvements coming soon. This will include extensions and other new end-user features, plus many new developer features across the HTML/CSS/JavaScript and web app platform, and new Enterprise-focused features for IT Pros.

Microsoft Identity: State of the Union and Future Direction

Microsoft identity technology has been powering consumers and business solutions for decades, anticipating and contributing to industry trends such as the move to the cloud. Come to this session to learn about today’s state of the art of identity management and Microsoft’s vision for identity.

DevOps at Scale: A True Story

DevOps represents a transformational shift in the way the software industry produces and delivers software. While the benefits are many, the road to DevOps for an established organization can be a long one filled with surprises and challenges. Microsoft’s Developer Division, responsible for producing software projects such as Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio Team Services, has been on a multi-year journey to become more agile and accelerate from shipping once every two years to shipping multiple times per year in a true DevOps fashion. This session will provide insights into the changes and investments made along the way, demonstrations of how the team makes use of Visual Studio Team Services to manage their software development projects, and practical lessons you can apply to your own team’s journey.

There also appears to be some new features and functionality coming to the Windows 10 client operating system that you may be interested in:

Notification Futures: Action Center and the Windows Notification Platform

Note: No details yet but this is likely related to the recent survey conducted with Windows Insiders and could include some new functionality that may be announced in the keynote demos.

What’s New for Tiles and Toast Notifications

Notifications are an essential tool for engaging with your customers on Windows. We are building on the foundation of Action Center to give developers greatly increased flexibility in Adaptive Toasts. We will introduce a powerful API that enables a new class of apps to plug into the Notification pipeline and provide innovative experiences for users. Live Tiles are evolving with two highly-requested surprises that you won't want to miss.

Note: This could indicate the introduction of interactive Live Tiles and possibly Live Tiles on the desktop. I expect these to get announced during the keynote demos.

Be sure to follow our coverage here at Windows IT Pro and also over on our sister sites DevPro Connections and SuperSite for Windows. I will be onsite all week bringing you coverage so be sure to follow along with me on Twitter (@WinObs) to get the latest info.

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.

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