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Microsoft’s annual developer conference is kicking off on June 2nd in San Francisco with the keynote presentation streaming live at 12:30PM ET / 9:30AM PT, and we will be following along here with everything as it’s announced.
The Verge’s Tom Warren reports that we can expect to hear about new AI models and agentic OpenClaw-like tools, plus a Copilot “super app” to go along with some of the major changes to Windows 11 that have already started appearing. Microsoft just announced the new Surface Laptop Ultra, powered by Nvidia’s RTX Spark, so there could be more Windows on ARM news in store.
Follow along here for the latest news and updates.
Microsoft launches its Command Line blog during Build 2026.
Microsoft makes it more secure to run OpenClaw on Windows.
At its Build developer conference, Microsoft is launching Microsoft Execution Containers, a police-driven layer to make it more secure to run things like OpenClaw on Windows. It’s going a step further too, by allowing a companion app for OpenClaw to run contained on Windows PCs. It should stop AI agents like OpenClaw from deleting all your files. “You can totally run OpenClaw inside your company now,” says OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger.
Microsoft’s Project Solara is an OS for AI agent gadgets
Image; Microsoft
Microsoft just announced “Project Solara,” a new OS designed for gadgets that run AI agents, at Build 2026. The company is calling it “a new platform built from the ground up to power agent-driven experiences.” It’s built on Android, not Windows.
Microsoft demonstrated two concept Project Solara devices at Build today: Desk concept and badge concept. The desk concept is an Amazon Echo Show-like device that unlocks with facial recognition and provides access to AI agents.
Microsoft’s AI agent OS: Project Solara.
Microsoft just introduced a couple of concept gadgets at Build 2026 that are powered by a new platform, Project Solara, which is made to run AI agents on devices taking the form of everything from smart speakers to security badges or earbuds.
Nvidia’s CEO dials into Build.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is on stage at Microsoft Build this morning, albeit virtually. He says Nvidia started working with Microsoft on RTX Spark about three years ago, and it has led to the creation of the new Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface RTX Spark Dev Box.
The new Surface mini PC is here.
Microsoft just launched a new Surface Dev Box, and the company is already using the machine live on stage at Build. The top looks like the vent on an Xbox Series X, and inside there’s an Nvidia RTX Spark chip and 128GB of unified memory. Overall, I’d say it looks like a flattened Xbox Series X.
Build kicks off with Windows.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has started his Build developer keynote by focusing on Windows immediately. Microsoft is expanding Windows AI APIs to more PCs, through CPU, GPU, and NPU support. There are two new local AI Windows models too, Aion 1.0 Instruct and Aion 1.0 Plan.
Microsoft’s new developer-optimized Windows embraces Linux even more
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft is kicking off its Build developer conference today with a promise of making Windows a trusted platform for development. As the company continues to focus on performance and reliability fixes for Windows 11, it’s also creating a developer-optimized experience that bundles a lot of useful tools and apps and embraces Linux even further.
“We have optimized the Windows 11 experience for developers, bringing frequently used command line utilities, a familiar comfort shell, faster setup experience, a built-in way to create and interact with Linux containers on Windows and a new experimental Intelligent Terminal,” explains Windows chief Pavan Davuluri.
Microsoft created the mini Surface dev box that Qualcomm couldn’t
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft only just announced a new Surface Laptop Ultra at the weekend, and it’s now revealing a miniature Surface PC aimed at developers. The new Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is powered by Nvidia’s new Arm-based RTX Spark chips, just like the Surface Laptop Ultra, and is optimized for sustained workloads and local AI tasks.
The Surface RTX Spark Dev Box looks a little like the top of an Xbox Series X console, with an aluminum chassis that also doubles as a heatsink. It has a 100-watt thermal envelope, slightly more than the 45-watt-to-80-watt thermal envelopes for Nvidia’s RTX Spark laptops. This miniature Surface PC also has 128GB of unified memory, making it capable of running up to 120 billion parameter models locally.
Microsoft Build 2026 is about to begin.
It’s nearly time for Microsoft’s annual developer event. The Build keynote kicks off at 9:30AM PT / 12:30PM ET / 5:30PM UK. I’m expecting we’ll hear a lot about new Microsoft AI models, Windows dev improvements, and a little surprise or two.
How to watch Microsoft’s Build 2026 conference
Microsoft is kicking off its yearly Build developer conference in San Francisco today, sandwiched between the recent Google I/O and Apple’s upcoming WWDC event. While tickets to attend Build in person are sold out, the conference is being streamed for free online, with CEO Satya Nadella opening with a keynote at 12:30PM ET / 9:30AM PT.
A cursory glance at the featured speakers and virtual sessions suggests that Build will predominantly focus on AI, which isn’t surprising given this is a developer event in 2026. The keynote description also says that Nadella and Microsoft leaders will be sharing “how Microsoft is creating new opportunity for developers across our platforms in this era of AI,” though specific details about the announcements have yet to emerge.
Microsoft to unveil new AI models and Windows improvements at Build
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft is heading to San Francisco this week in a bid to win back developers at its Build conference. I’ve been attending Build since the days when Microsoft called it the Professional Developers Conference, and I can’t remember a more pivotal moment. As Microsoft continues to reshuffle its entire business around AI, it’s moving Build into a smaller, more intimate venue. Trust in Windows and GitHub is at an all-time low, and this is Microsoft’s chance to reconnect with developers and outline the future.
Sources tell me that we’ll hear about new AI models in Windows, a new reasoning model from Microsoft AI, and a Copilot “super app.” But perhaps more importantly for Build attendees, I understand that Microsoft will be revealing more about its work on improving the experience of Windows for developers. I’m told that Microsoft will unveil a new Windows 11 developer optimized experience this week, which includes many of the things that developers have been asking for in Windows: a distraction-free environment with preinstalled apps, tools, and scripts.
Microsoft’s big developer conference returns to San Francisco in June
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft is moving its annual Build developer conference from Seattle back to San Francisco and making some changes along the way. This year, the event will be held at Fort Mason, the former US Army post located in the San Francisco Bay Area, instead of the bustling downtown of Seattle. Microsoft is moving Build to this location to capture the AI buzz of San Francisco and to make the event more intimate.
“There are great conferences that are enormous, and part of it is just the sprawl and scale of it, and there are great conferences that are tiny that are really a personalized experience,” says Kyle Daigle, chief operating officer at GitHub, in an interview with The Verge. “I think we’re trying to fit in the middle of it where meeting with people that attend is just as much a part of the actual conference content, announcements, and using the tech.”
