After three days of keynotes and technical sessions, Microsoft’s Build 2018 came to an end, and even though, it was a conference dedicated to developers, the company announced a slew of exciting new changes coming to Windows 10, Office, apps, and of course, Azure.
If you couldn’t attend the conference, or you didn’t have the time to watch the two keynotes, here are the highlights of the most exciting announcements that every Windows 10 user should know.
Microsoft Build 2018
Timeline
On Windows 10, Timeline is a feature that allows you to resume activities you were working in the past. During its developer conference, Microsoft unveiled that Timeline is coming to Android and iOS.
On Android, Timeline will be available using Microsoft Launcher, and on iPhone, the feature will be available through Microsoft Edge. In both cases, you’ll be able to see and pick up activities you’re working on your PC or another device.
Your Phone
The company also showed off its new “Your Phone” app for Windows 10, which essentially, it’s an app that lets you connect to your phone wirelessly to see and read text messages, check notifications, and upload or download photos without having to unlock your phone.
Sets
Sets is a feature that allows you group apps and websites into tabs, and while it’s something that we’ve already seen, at the Build 2018 conference, Microsoft showed off some of the work the team has been doing.
Some of these improvements are Fluent Design tweaks, the ability to use Alt + Tab to switch to Microsoft Edge tabs and not just apps, option to restore previous sets, and how the feature integrates with Timeline.
Fluent Design
Microsoft’s Fluent Design System is a new interface design language for Windows 10 that brings blur, translucent, and animation effects to desktop and apps.
The new design language was first introduced in 2017, but during Build 2018, Microsoft unveiled a number of improvements coming this year, including transparency and blur on context menus, consistent back buttons on apps, and shadow effects.
In addition, the company also announced that it’s bringing Fluent Design support for classic desktop applications that will allow developers to modernize existing apps.
Cortana and Alexa
Microsoft has been teasing the ability to use Cortana with Amazon Alexa and vice versa for a long time now, and while, the company isn’t sharing when exactly this support will arrive to Windows 10, during the conference, we’ve seen the first demo of both assistants working together.
While we’re focusing this guide on the announcements for consumers, Microsoft also revealed a bunch of stuff related to Azure, including a lot about Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, and much more. If you’re interested on more details about developer related announcements, then check out this Microsoft Developer YouTube playlist.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].