After a promising year from Microsoft, with Satya Nadella at the helm steering the company into his ‘cloud-first, mobile-first’ vision of the future, and Windows 10, the OS apparently to right all wrongs, nearing the final cut, Microsoft’s Build developer’s conference in San Francisco promises to be a winning performance by the Redmond’s finest. Here’s what we expect to see.

While we’ve already seen much of what to expect from Windows 10, Terry Myerson, the company’s executive vice president of Operating Systems, will no doubt expand somewhat further. We will likely be made privy to the name of Microsoft’s successor to Internet Explorer, Project Spartan, and also what exactly is going to happen to IE as it enters its ripe old age. IE will still be part of Windows 10, but only for enterprise and users requiring legacy browsing support. Expect also to hear the chief wax on the Windows 10 app vision, and also Nadella’s focus on Windows becoming a “service”, with subscription-based “annuity relationships” for both businesses and consumers. We’re still not sure when Windows 10 will become available, and while July has been speculated, we might just get a date this time.

Universal Apps

Build 2015 has got to be the time Microsoft shows us how effective universal apps work across PCs, tablets, phones, and Xbox One, and just when the public will be able to appreciate this. The company has already given us universal versions of Office, as well as Mail and Calendar apps, and the conference is going to be a very big lure campaign to developers to do the same.

Windows Phone

Much should be made of where Microsoft plans to go with its Windows Phone, and how the company intends to improve its apps on that platform. We should also hear something about a new flagship Lumia phones, and what to expect from Windows 10 on other phones, as well as tablets. This might include some biometric scanning ability on devices, or how Windows 10 might appear on phones with the aid of Continuum. What has perhaps been the most startling news of late is that Microsoft is thinking about Android apps for Windows 10. Myerson will explain how improved tools for developers will help this come to fruition.

HoloLens

Viewers will no doubt be awed once again with a mesmerizing demo of Microsoft’s augmented reality headset, HoloLens. We may well see some games in action, and hear about how universal apps will work the headset, and how developers might create apps for it. We could even get to know when Hololens will become available.

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