Microsoft Moves Build to Virtual Event, Cancels In Person Show

Considering that nearly every other conference slated for the spring has been canceled, it’s no surprise to hear that Microsoft is canceling the in-person part of Build. For this year, the event will be streamed with the company providing more details about how this will operate in the near future.

Effectively, this means that Build is canceled but it will be interesting to see how Microsoft proceeds with the streaming aspect of the conference. The company is well-prepared to stream all the sessions as well as the keynotes; they typically record all the sessions anyways. Of course, this is taking matters to the extreme but considering the circumstances around COVID-19, this is the right move.

Microsoft is following many others down the same path as Google has canceled IO and now all eyes will turn to Apple to see if they will cancel their event. These developer events for Microsoft, Google, and Apple are key conferences each year as they shine a light on the development path each company is taking.

Microsoft also canceled its MVP summit, moving that conference to a streaming-only event as well. The company also backed-out of GDC before that show was canceled.

This year has been rocked by the COVID-19 virus and it certainly has made covering the tech industry more challenging. While these tech events are helpful for companies like Microsoft to share information about new features and the like, it was also helpful as a journalist as these are the types of events where you can talk to executives on a less formal, but more informational, basis.