Top 10 Moments from BUILD Day 1 Keynote

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 by Todd Anglin | Comments 10
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When a keynote is being streamed live to the interwebs, there's really little point in live blogging. Back when I first started Telerik Watch, live streaming events were very rare, so live blogs made more sense.

Windows 8 devices at Build 2011

That said, if you're like me, sometimes you don't have time to suffer through a 90 minute event just to catch the few bits of interesting news. What you really want is a summary that tells you everything you need to know to capture the overall jist and important news in a few short minutes.

Thus, this post.

Rather than bring you blow-by-blow typed updates as the BUILD Day 1 keynote unfolds, I instead provide an "instant summary" for your easy digestion. I present the "Top 10 Moments" of the first BUILD 2011 keynote (in chronological order).

Top 10 Moments (from my point of view)


  1. Windows 7 usage is now greater than Windows XP:  Good (small, but genuine) applause from crowd. And good to know on the eve of Win8 that the WinXP anchor is dissolving.
  2. Core performance of Windows 8 will be solid (focused on fundamentals):  First big applause of the keynote. Sinofsky showing-off the performance of Win8 dev preview, consuming nearly half the memory of an equiv Windows 7 setup.
  3. Picture Password:  This "Windows Shake" demo of Windows 8. Unlock your (touch) PC by tapping and swiping on a picture.
  4. Sinofsky takes another dig at Chrome:  "I can't imagine anything better than a 'chrome-free' browsing experience." Haha. Ha.
  5. You Pick the Language you want to build your apps (XAML Lives!):  XAML fans breath a sigh of relief. New Windows Runtime (WinRT) introduced to support Metro apps that use XAML OR HTML + JavaScript/.NET/Native Code. Unified runtime.
  6. Expression Blend for HTML & CSS:  Huge positive reaction for a new version of Blend that will support HTML and CSS editing.
  7. Windows Store with easy deployment tools from Visual Studio:  One-click deployment of HTML (and XAML) apps to Windows Store from Visual Studio. Transparent app review process. Microsoft will share app approval review tools so everyone can check their own apps before uploading. Windows Store app is built using HTML + JS.
  8. Metrofication of Silverlight XAML apps:  A new namespace redirects, a handful of build forking for new Win8 APIs, and Silverlight runs natively in new Win8 native XAML. Bringing Silverlight to native Win8 XAML is going to be (at least by keynote demo claims) easy. Same for Windows Phone - one line code change.
  9. Lightning fast Windows 8 cold boot demos & power management:  People loved watching PCs of various specs boot in less than 10 seconds. Big rig booted near instantly. Lesser machines booted closer to 10 seconds. All machines have new "Connected Standby" mode that does an impressive job sipping power when in standby mode (similar to what the iPad does to last forever on standby).
  10. Windows 8 tablet giveaway. The BIG moment:  As expected, Microsoft announced the giveaway of the Samsung Windows Developer Preview PC, to which the audience provided the expected cheers. Includes Intel Core i5, 1 year of free AT&T 3G, Wacom digitizer, dock with USB port, and on and on...Loaded with Win8 Developer Preview.
  11. [BONUS] Sinofsky shows Windows 8 in normal "professional" use (keyboard/mouse):  Sexy new task manager, using mouse and keyboard, new control panel (metrofied), one-click PC refresh and reset. Gives a good 20 or 30 minute overview of using Windows through a range of scenarios. This is really what you might consider the "everything else" section of the keynote (multi-monitor support, Explorer changes, updated magnifier, and so on).
  12. [BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE] Sync and Live Apps for Metro Windows:  The Windows Live apps you know now rewritten in HTML and JavaScript for Metro with some Windows Live syncing to manage your settings and preferences. Expanded and more useful SkyDrive for accessing files remotely via Live.
  13. [WHY NOT, ONE MORE] College Interns wrote all of the demo apps for Win8 Preview:  All of the demo apps in Windows 8 were created by Microsoft's college interns. 17 teams, 2 to 3 devs per team, 10 weeks. Microsoft is trying to appeal to the college developer in a big way.

Release Path: Preview (today). Beta. RC. RTM. Then GA. Driving by quality, not by date, so no official release date today. Developer Preview will be "managed" by Microsoft and updated during preview phase. Preview build available tonight at http://dev.windows.com.

Final Thoughts and Reactions

  • What can I say? They keynote largely delivered on expected announcements and was in-line with well established rumor.
  • XAML survives and thrives (stop worrying)
  • HTML/JS are added as new dev models with new and improved tooling (Blend/VS)
  • WinRT provides a new unified API for JS/.NET/Native code apps
  • Metro styling is everywhere and Metro apps are 1st class experience (but not only experience)
  • Win8 hardware is cool and power savvy (and equally ARM and x86 friendly)
  • All BUILD attendees get a Developer Preview tablet

Nothing really came-in as surprising, but Windows 8 features and hardware definitely showed very well. The opening of the keynote was a little rough, but Microsoft found its groove and delivered some exciting news that I think developers are eager to dig-in to.

Of course, Telerik was already well prepared for today's news. We've been preparing all summer for this and we are already prepared to deliver the tools you need for today and tomorrow. Learn more about Telerik's commitment on Telerik.com.

What was missing today?

  • Azure
  • Office (no Metro Word...yet...)
  • LightSwitch
  • Silverlight the plug-in (mostly)
  • Partners!
  • In-depth look at new Win8 tools or app runtime

We'll probably get a lot of that tomorrow morning. For now, it's off to sessions and lunch to see how everyone feels about the keynote. What did you think of today's keynote? Are there other "top" moments from the morning?

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10 Comments

  • Vijaya Malla 13 Sep 2011
    It should have been a great experience for all those ~5000 people who are at BUILD, because i am here at my desktop watching it live is very very exiting.
    I think the reason MS is concentrating more on college students is that they can have them locked up to .NET for life.
  • Pete Towey 13 Sep 2011
    >>>> WinRT provides a new unified API for JS/.NET/Native code apps

    Looking at the keynote slides this is exactly what they're NOT providing.  WinRT/Metro is a completely separate stack from Win32 and .Net.
    It seems if you want a Metro touch app you use WinRT if you want a standard application you use Win32 or .Net
  • Rob G 14 Sep 2011
    @Pete Towey
    WTFK (Watch The F* Keynote) - the Desktop experience is built on top of WinRT, using WinRT API's, not a completely separate stack, a point Sinofsky explicitly highlights. Carefully architected to support legacy app's. It seems like a cohesive developer picture to me.
  • Vincent 14 Sep 2011
    Combitation of duck and mole was always ridiculous, ugly monster. Win8 is a good example of it - nobody on desktop give a *uck for this ugly "Metro" toilet floor. Mobile users? Tablets? Don't be bursted by optimism, tablets are TOY, expensive toy, which plays on the market only thanks to Apple. MS suxx here and "mobile" orientation is a fail. ("clouds" too)
    So let's just wait until Ballmer again says "W8 was a dog".
    Win7 overtook XP? Drop this **it for your mom, all my friends removed this cr@p and returned to XP. It's pity MS waste their time/money on W8, I see they slowly fall. Instead of making proper OS they curve old dog, making (unsuccessfully) a new focuses. RIP...
  • Victor 14 Sep 2011
    Well, I give at least two pieces of **it about the Metro design because it looks awesome and is fast.
    I like the new inter-process communication, that will make it so much easier to share information between apps.
    Other things that I find really awesome are the ability to use native code and XAML and the insane boot time for which I have dreamed of for years. Microsoft absolutely seem on the right track and 450 000 000 Windows 7 copies sold is not exactly the definition of "cr@p".
    Also the cloud is the future because it makes it so much easier and secure for the average Joe to keep, manage and share his information with minimal effort. Not to mention cloud gaming and cloud compute which will boost the game industry and businesses to a new level.
  • Ron 14 Sep 2011
    Vincent, the world changes - unfortunate but true.
    We cant stick with XP forever. I love Windows 7, and after you remove the tile interface from Windows 8 it looks like you have a OS that is faster and lighter. I have trouble seeing a problem.
    Dont blame MS for trying to adapt to a shifting market - I just hope they get it right thats all.
  • H. Roberts 14 Sep 2011
    Vincent, you are completely right - Windows 8 will be good for nothing. Victor, Rob - you may want to see this video. Pay attention to 1:55 - 2:05.
  • Victor 15 Sep 2011
    I watched the video, and paid attention to 1:55 - 2:05. I don't get what is wrong. The only thing that the woman said which got my attention is that the old desktop is also an app, just like the metro UI which I am not sure if it is bad or good. They are still providing both desktops and pulling active apps from the edge is just a way to scroll through the apps, I doubt they will remove the alt/tab functionality or anything else that is fundamental to windows. Also most problems with the touch interaction will be polished for the final release, this is not even beta yet. Just like there are no issues with the touch surfaces on Windows Phone there will probably be no issues with the desktop once the thing is complete and ready for consumers. The worst thing that could happen is for Windows 8 to follow the Vista path which will be corrected with Windows 9 :)
    Could you explain what problem you saw in the video?
  • Pete Towey 15 Sep 2011
    @Rob G
    It's not a cohesive picture at all.  In the demo he explicitly showed 2 DIFFERENT versions of IE10 running, one metro style and one for the desktop (all they share is the rendering engine).  I bet you the desktop version is still coded on Win32, so how is having 2 seperate stacks to produce the same application cohesive?  I have yet to see anywhere that you can produce quality desktop applications using WinRT.
  • H. Roberts 15 Sep 2011
    @Victor
    Your line of reasoning is quite... interesting:
    "I don't get what is wrong."
    ...
    "Also most problems with the touch interaction..."
    ...
    "Could you explain what problem you saw in the video?"
    Anyway, if you think that the multi-touch needs to be "polished", wouldn't you agree that it would've been better for Microsoft if they had done this before the demo?

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