At the edge of tweaking
Microsoft has been largely silent about its plans for Windows this year, although some information is still leaking online. For example, we've known for quite some time that Microsoft is working on a major update to the Windows user interface, codenamed Sun Valley. For its announcement, the company is preparing a special event, which should take place in the coming weeks.
As part of Build 2021, Microsoft announced the public availability of support for Linux GUI applications on the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) second generation. You may remember the official announcement of this feature some months ago and until now has been available as a preview.
Microsoft at the Build 2021 conference today announced a preview version of Project Reunion 0.8. You may be aware of this platform which is designed not only to unite the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and Win32, but also to separate the APIs from the operating system, so that they will no longer require an up-to-date version of Windows to use them.
This year's Developers Conference, Microsoft Build 2021, starts just in an hour. Like last year, the event will only be held in the virtual format due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Here's how you can watch its sessions for free of charge. Only a quick online registration on the official website is required. The conference will be held from 25 to 27 May.
As a part of the Windows Insider program, Microsoft, from time to time, hosts special bug-hunting events called "Bug Bash." During Bug Bash, Microsoft publishes "quests" - special tasks made to test the quality and stability of the new code, spot bugs, and gather more feedback and diagnostic data. Bug Bashes were an important part of the Windows Insider program, with two or even three "bashes" during a development cycle of a new update. For some reason, Microsoft hasn't hosted these events for the past few years. Luckily, the company is back with another Bug Bash to polish the next Windows release and fix as many bugs as possible.
Unsuccessful attempts to buy TikTok and Pinterest did not discourage Microsoft, which is one of the world's most valuable companies, from looking for another promising acquisition. Recently, Microsoft bought ZeniMax Media, the parent company of famous game publishers, such as Bethesda Softworks, Arkane Studios, and Machine Games. Now, Bloomberg reports that the software giant wants to buy a popular gaming chat service, Discord.
Panos Panay, Microsoft's chief product officer, briefly spoke at the Ignite 2021 virtual session. While the Windows chief did not make any major announcements, he vaguely teased the upcoming changes in Windows 10. Panos is very excited about the subject.
The official Microsoft Partner Twitter account has shared the dates for the upcoming Inspire conference. This digital-only two days event will take place on July 14-15. In the following tweet, Microsoft Partner has notified users that the registration will open in June, but the specific date remains unknown.
The Financial Times reports that Microsoft attempted to buy Pinterest with little to no success. Pinterest is an image-sharing social network with a market cap of $53.96 billion. It is no stranger to Microsoft, and two companies have many times partnered on different Microsoft products. For example, Pinterest was among the first developers to support dual-screen experiences on Surface Duo. Also, the social network is integrated into Microsoft Edge's collection feature.
Microsoft today introduced the new Microsoft Viva platform, which builds on the capabilities of Teams and Microsoft 365 and is split into four distinct features. It is a new Employee Experience Platform (EXP).
