Microsoft Build 2025 Logo Image credit: Microsoft

Introduction

This year’s Microsoft Build conference held in Seattle brought together developers from around the world to explore the latest innovations in AI, cloud computing, and developer tools. With thousands of attendees and hundreds of sessions, the event showcased Microsoft’s continued commitment to empowering developers with cutting-edge technology. I attended with my colleague Michael Collier, and together we covered as many sessions as possible. Here’s my recap of the highlights from each day. I’ve also collected a number of valuable resources and links for those interested in exploring these topics further.

It’s worth noting that other Centric Consulting colleagues like Donnie Kerr have already started to take these learnings and are working quickly to make use of the new tooling announced at Build. The impact of these announcements is already being felt across our organization as we integrate these innovations into our client solutions. Check out Donnie’s ‘Tech in 10’ videos which highlihghts new features in 10 minute or less videos.

My Key Takeaways

After attending sessions over the three days, a few core themes emerged that I believe will shape the future of software development:

  1. AI Agents as the New Building Blocks: It’s clear that AI agents are becoming the fundamental building blocks of modern information systems. Microsoft is positioning them as composable units that can be orchestrated to solve complex problems.

  2. Human-AI Collaboration: Throughout the conference, Microsoft emphasized a “human in the loop” approach. Rather than replacing developers, AI is being positioned as a powerful collaborator that amplifies human creativity and productivity.

  3. Agent Orchestration Standards: The industry is solidifying around standards like Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) communication for orchestrating complex AI systems. This standardization will be crucial for interoperability as agent ecosystems grow.

  4. Inclusive AI Tooling: I was impressed by the range of AI tools available across different skill levels - from no-code solutions for business users to advanced frameworks for professional developers, making AI accessible to everyone.

  5. AI-Powered Development: The demos showing agents handling development tasks and work items were particularly impressive. GitHub’s new capability to assign work items directly to AI agents could significantly change how development teams operate.

  6. .NET Aspire Maturation: The advancements in .NET Aspire are creating a significantly better and more productive developer experience for complex distributed systems. It’s impressive to see how Aspire is simplifying the development, deployment (coming soon), and management/monitoring of these sophisticated applications.

Day 1: The Future of AI Development

Day 1 set the tone for the entire conference with a strong focus on AI innovation. Microsoft’s vision for AI agents as fundamental building blocks for modern applications was clearly articulated, along with practical implementations through Azure AI Foundry and GitHub Copilot enhancements. The hands-on labs provided valuable opportunities to work directly with these new technologies, particularly in agent development using MCP and Azure Functions.

Keynote Highlights

  • Satya Nadella’s vision for the next generation of AI-powered solutions
  • Introduction of Azure AI Foundry and its new capabilities
  • Unveiling of GitHub Copilot Enterprise 2.0/Professional + with agentic DevOps features

Key Sessions Attended

  • Opening Keynote - Featuring Satya Nadella’s roadmap for AI innovation
  • BRK155 - Azure AI Foundry: The Agent Factory - Deep dive into building AI agents at scale
  • BRKFP253 - Envision a secure, AI-accelerated developer experience with Docker - New Docker integrations for AI workflows
  • LAB344 - Build and deploy AI agents with MCP and Azure Functions - Hands-on workshop for agent development
  • BRK160 - Build autonomous agents in Copilot Studio - Creating business-ready AI solutions
  • LAB307 - Building GenAI Apps in C#: AI Templates, GitHub, Azure OpenAI & More - Practical implementation of AI in .NET applications

Day 2: Cloud Innovation and Infrastructure

Day 2 shifted focus to the cloud infrastructure and platform innovations that will support the next generation of AI applications. The sessions delved into the technical details of Azure’s evolving architecture, multi-agent orchestration strategies, and how AI is being integrated into traditional development workflows. Mark Russinovich’s insights into Azure’s innovations were particularly valuable, showcasing how Microsoft is preparing its cloud platform for the coming wave of AI-powered applications.

Key Sessions Attended

  • Day 2 Keynote - Unpacking the tech - In-depth technical analysis of Microsoft’s latest innovations
  • BRK176 - Architecting your multi agent solutions with Copilot Studio and M365 Agents SDK - Advanced strategies for multi-agent architectures
  • BRK195 - Inside Azure innovations with Mark Russinovich - Deep dive into Azure’s technical roadmap and architecture
  • BRK101 - The Future of .NET App Modernization Streamlined with AI - How AI is transforming .NET application upgrades and migrations
  • BRK166 - Build Microsoft Teams collaborative agents as virtual colleagues with Visual Studio Code - Creating intelligent agents for Teams collaboration

Day 3: Building for the Future

The final day of my attendance brought together many of the themes from the previous days with a forward-looking perspective. Sessions focused on practical applications of agent collaboration, advanced AI techniques like agentic RAG, and the continued evolution of developer tools like .NET Aspire. The Hanselman and Toub talk was a highlight, delivering deep technical insights with their characteristic blend of expertise and accessibility. Day 3 left attendees with concrete strategies for implementing the innovations discussed throughout the conference.

Key Sessions Attended

  • BRK126 - Collaborate with a team of agents to build intelligent solutions - Orchestrating multiple AI agents to work together effectively
  • BRK142 - Agentic RAG: build a reasoning retrieval engine with Azure AI Search - Advanced techniques combining retrieval with reasoning capabilities
  • BRK106 - Elevating Development with .NET Aspire: AI, Cloud, and Beyond - Latest advancements in .NET Aspire for cloud-native applications
  • BRK121 - Yet “Another Highly Technical Talk” with Hanselman and Toub - Deep technical insights from Microsoft’s developer advocates

Throughout the conference, I collected a number of valuable resources and links that I found particularly useful:

Azure AI and Foundry

Microsoft Copilot and Agent Orchestration

Power Platform and Business Apps

Azure Services

Developer Resources

A Note on Day 4 and Session Recordings

Although I was unable to attend Day 4 due to travel requirements, I’m looking forward to watching the recorded sessions once they become available. Microsoft has announced that all Build 2025 sessions will soon be publicly available for anyone to watch online, making this wealth of knowledge accessible to the broader developer community.

Conclusion

Microsoft Build 2025 demonstrated the company’s continued innovation in AI, cloud, and developer tools. The announcements and sessions provided valuable insights into the future of software development, with a clear emphasis on responsible AI and developer productivity. As AI agents become increasingly central to how we build and operate software, Microsoft is clearly positioning itself at the forefront of this transformation while emphasizing collaborative approaches that keep humans at the center of the development process.

One thing I’ve always been impressed with about Microsoft is their focus on developers and the development experience. This year’s Build conference reinforced that commitment, showing how even as technology evolves rapidly toward AI-driven solutions, Microsoft continues to prioritize making developers more productive and successful. Whether through .NET Aspire’s streamlined approach to complex systems or the thoughtful integration of AI agents into development workflows, it’s clear that empowering developers remains at the core of Microsoft’s strategy.