Microsoft Build 2020 everything the company announced

Microsoft hosted the first virtual conference Build for developers last night.

The company announced a number of new things, such as a new quantum computer created with OpenAI, new building blocks for live collaboration in Office and Lists - a collaborative application for the Teams service.

Along with all this, the company also announced some key changes to the Windows developer platform, such as the use of the Linux UI in Windows and a search bar feature similar to macOS Spotlight.

The following are all the announcements of the company:

Project Reunion

Microsoft in recent years has tried to get developers to develop their own applications Windows 10 that can run on all platforms - desktops and laptops, tablets, consoles and smartphones. In 2015, it renamed universal apps to Windows apps. But Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and Win32 APIs (considered desktop applications) existed separately. According to the company, not anymore.

Last night it announced Project Reunion, an attempt to merge both of these APIs into one umbrella. As part of this effort, Microsoft released WinUI 3 Preview 1 - a UI framework for Windows. You can see more features on the GitHub page at Project Renunion.

Microsoft hopes this project will entice developers to develop more universal apps.

PowerToys Run launcher alternative to macOS Spotlight

If you've used a MacBook or an iMac, you've probably used Spotlight Search to find apps, files, and more. Microsoft is reportedly trying to emulate Apple's service with something called the PowerToys Run launcher.

This is a new version of the popular RUN which we have known for many years. It will be able to execute all RUN commands but will also contain plugins for custom web searches.

You can download and view the PowerToys Run code from GitHub.

Windows Terminal 1.0 for business

Windows Terminal is a command line application for developers. Helps them run commands on Windows, Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) distro or Azure Cloud Shell.

Microsoft released this application for corporate use yesterday. Allows you to run commands on different tabs and windows and customize the UI to suit your needs.

Linux GUI apps on Windows

Microsoft allows more Linux functions in Windows 10. The company offers full support for the Linux kernel of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and we will see later this month. Apart from this, it will also support applications with their GUI (Graphical User Interface from the Graphical User Interface) and will allow accelerations from the GPU hardware for better visual performance.

Until now, developers had to use a third-party server to run Linux applications with a GUI. With this new update, these applications will be able to run without additional software.

Microsoft has announced many more for Windows developers. You can see it company blog for more details.