Microsoft Build conference comes home to Redmond

IDG News Service - Hoping to capitalize on the excitement around the pending Windows 8 launch, Microsoft has announced this year's dates for its premier developer conference, Build 2012, which will be held Oct. 30 through Nov. 2 on the company's Redmond, Wash., corporate campus.

The conference takes place in the week following Microsoft's release of its next operating system, Windows 8, due October 26. So naturally, the conference will have a lot of material for programmers interested in developing applications for the updated platform, though Microsoft also promises plenty of content on Windows Azure, Windows Phone 8, Windows Server 2012 and Visual Studio 2012 as well.

This year's Build will also presumably include more on Web application development, as the company decided to shutter its MIX conference for Web developers in January.

On the blog post announcing the conference, Microsoft General Manager Tim O'Brien defended the decision to hold the conference at Microsoft's headquarters. "BUILD 2012 will be on the Microsoft campus, and I know what you're thinking ... if it's not in some cavernous convention hall, then it must be a dialed-down version of last year's event, etc. ... but don't be confused: this will be unlike anything we've held on our corporate campus in a long time," he wrote.

This will be the second developer conference under the name of Build. The first was held in September 2011, in Anaheim California, where Microsoft launched the first Windows 8 preview. That conference had 275 sessions, 351 speakers and approximately 5,000 attendees.

Formerly, the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) was the flagship Microsoft developer conference, though that name was jettisoned in favor of the Build moniker.

Registration will begin on Aug. 8, 8 a.m. PT. At this time, Microsoft will also share more details on keynote speakers, sessions and other activities at the event

Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Joab on Twitter at @Joab_Jackson. Joab's e-mail address is Joab_Jackson@idg.com