Building Windows: Over Twenty Years of Developer Conferences

One of Microsoft's first announcements said that Windows was just software. And, in case it wasn't clear, he repeated it up to three times: “it's just software, it's just software, it's just software”. And the software is the important thing. At Microsoft they have been clear about this since its inception and for more than twenty years they have endeavored to transmit it with their conferences for developers

Long before keynote Anglicism began to form part of our common vocabulary and these events became the center of public and media attention, Microsoft regularly brought together thousands of developers at itsPDC ('Professional Developers Conference')That was the name of the main conferences that the Redmonds held during the nineties and the first decade of the new century. That was until 2011 when he remodeled these events under the name of Build, the current annual conference for Microsoft developers.

From the first Windows 3.1 PDC to the last Windows 8 Build, more than twenty years have passed. In that time we have seen how Microsoft went from the calm dominance of Bill Gates to the exacerbated enthusiasm of Steve Ballmer. We have seen the transformation from a company that had software as its leitmotiv to become a company obsessed with devices and services. Along the way there are more than a dozen events that mark its history until we reach the next Build 2013 to be held next week in San Fracisco.

Early 90s: software is what's important

Seattle experienced the first Microsoft PDC in August 1991.Some guys living in Redmond and looking like clueless geeks were already responsible for the most widespread operating system on computers on the entire planet. If anyone mattered to the developers it was them, so the first conference left little room for fireworks and more for technique.

A year later, in July 1992, Bill Gates, lord and master of Microsoft, would take the stage of San Francisco's Moscone Center to explain his vision of the industry and present to the world Win32, the platform destined to dominate computing for years to come. Still inoffensive looking, dressed in a red polo shirt and XXL-sized glasses, Gates reviewed the previous history of Windows and once again stressed the key role of software for the future.

Those were the years in which Microsoft still kept a certain image away from the corporate world.Years in which Gates himself joked about the need to get some ties so that IBM would take them seriously. These guys in polo shirts and shirts were defining the future of computing and Win32 was going to be his main weapon, but not his only one. In Redmond they reserved a surprise under the code name 'Chicago'

After the name of the North American city was hidden what in the future was going to be Windows 95 The version of the operating system would be announced for the first time at the 1993 PDC, held in the city of Anaheim, California. Windows 95 will mean one of the biggest changes that Microsoft's operating system has undergone throughout its history and will lay the foundations for the company to address the future that was presented with the Internet and its new possibilities.

Seconds 90s: the internet gold rush

The PDC of March 1996 arrived with Microsoft savoring the honey of success thanks to Windows 95, which had soon become the best-selling software product up to that time. The Moscone Center would once again witness the overwhelming dominance of Microsoft during the 1990s. But Gates's intention was not to rest on his laurels and he dedicated his keynote to assuming the future challenges that would come with the internet and the key role that the network of networks in our world.

On this occasion, Gates appeared before the audience in a more formal way, now a businessman capable of talking calmly about his meetings with the presidents and prime ministers of countries around the world. the world. The president of Microsoft took advantage of his presentation to review what the internet was going to mean, showing off a repertoire of topics that are still on the lips of many today: network regulation and its risks, the need to make it accessible to everyone the world, or the role of the browser as the center of the system.Reviewing his intervention on video leaves all those supposed gurus who, 17 years later, continue to talk about any of these topics as the latest novelty.

The PDC of 96 was the internet conference, of the birth of ActiveX, but it was also living proof of Microsoft's dominance. There is no better way to describe it than to see Steve Jobs, president of NeXT at the time, participate as a guest speaker to explain what his company could do with Microsoft tools. He was not the only special guest, there was also an appearance by Douglas Adams, cult science fiction writer, whose attendance makes one wonder at what moment we decided to change his talks for the presence on stage of Jessica Alba talking about Windows Phone.

The company's obsession with the Internet was such that it remained the main theme during the 1997 and 1998 PDCs, held in San Diego and Denver, respectively.In the latter, the folks at Microsoft put a special emphasis on building Windows applications for the Internet age. Gates, back at his pole, knew of the importance of software for the network and thus he once again defended it before the thousands of developers present at the Convention Center of the American city. What came next would end up proving him right.

Early 00s: Improving eXPerience

With the turn of the millennium, Microsoft temporarily moved its developer conference to the East Coast. Orlando would be the city chosen for the celebration of the 2000 PDC, whose keynote began with a tribute to inventors and pioneers of computing. Chris Atkinson would lead the main conference, also inaugurating the category of Microsoft executives with strange behavior on stage, to make way for a more serious and already sheathed Bill Gates in their characteristic shirts.

The early conferences of the 2000s saw the death of the Windows 9x line and the birth of the .NET platform, with the irruption of web services integrated into the operating system. Gates also announced a new roadmap for Windows in which the 'Whistler' project was hidden, a prelude to the future Windows XP that would mark the future of the system.

The launch of the new version of the most famous operating system on the planet took place around the PDC in October 2001. Although this was to be held in Los Angeles, the Redmonds decided to Move the launch conference to New York, a city that had just suffered the attacks of September 11. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani himself appeared on stage with Gates at the beginning of the presentation to thank the company for choosing the city as its headquarters.

Windows XP marked a change of era and so did its presentation, more spectacular and dynamic than previous versions. Gates certified the end of MSDOS by typing "exit" at the command line, to begin a full tour of the features of the new system with celebrity presence included. Even Gates himself dared to participate together with the North American presenter Regis Philbin in a simulation not devoid of irony of the program 'Who wants to be a millionaire? '.

The entire presentation conference revolved around the new Windows experience, with a very young Joe Belfiore, still without his characteristic hairstyle, explaining how easy the new system was and the innovations it introduced for all kinds of users. Gates displayed his sense of humor by taking a walk around Fifth Avenue and its shops, entering the show game that he had left aside on previous occasions.Windows XP was finally on the market

The rest of the PDC 2001 conferences returned to Los Angeles and focused on the technical aspects and development tools for the new system. There was also space to review the new equipment that would hit the market accompanying the release of Windows XP, including a new type of device that Microsoft would try to promote: the Tablet PC

After the resounding success of Windows XP, which until barely a year ago was still the most widely used operating system on the planet, getting better was increasingly difficult. The PDC took two years to return, until October 2003, the month in which the city of Los Angeles once again welcomed Microsoft and its legion of developers. News from Avalon, Aero, Indigo and WinFS dominated the conferences, preceding the future arrival of a new version of Windows hidden under the code name 'Longhorn'

Seconds 00s: Change of leadership

The second part of the early decade of the millennium saw some of the most significant changes in the industry, and Microsoft suffered all that turmoil within the company. The PDC in September 2005 held in Los Angeles would be the last of those in Redmond with Bill Gates as CEO of the company. But before giving way to Steve Ballmer at the head of the company, Gates took advantage of his keynote to review the previous history of Windows and introduce the next version of the operating system: Windows Vista.

Windows Vista would be the star of this 2005 PDC, with a very long demonstration of all the new features that the next iteration of the software would include. OS. But the new version of Windows was not the only protagonist. There were also IE and Office 12, which would integrate the Ribbon bar for the first time, omnipresent in later versions of the office suite.

After the change in the top management, three years would pass until the next PDC, held in October 2008 and with Ballmer already as Microsoft's top leaderKnowing his peculiar ways of encouraging developers, many expected to see the presentation of the company's new CEO, but this time he did not take the stage. In his place was taken by Ray Ozzie, who in 2006 had assumed the position of Chief Software Architect, previously held by Bill Gates. Ozzie showed off his extraordinary mastery of the stage and his good communication skills to kick off some more technical conferences than the previous ones but equally loaded with news.

Without going any further, the 2008 PDC saw the birth of Windows 7 The new man in charge of Windows, Steven Sinofsky led a very extensive public demonstration of the next version of the operating system, the success of which has been more than proven over the years.It was not the only big announcement from the conferences, there were also Windows Azure, Office 14 and a new experimental device in the form of an interactive table that introduced the Surface brand to the Microsoft product family for the first time.

These were years of intense changes in the industry and new challenges for a company that was still a leader in various sectors but with many open fronts to fight on. This is how the 2009 PDC arrived in Los Angeles, the moment chosen by Ozzie to explain to the world the “three screens and the cloud” strategy that Redmond was preparing: PC, smartphone, TV and the web as a link between them. A vision that is still present at Microsoft today.

The October 2010 PDC, held at company headquarters in Redmond, would be the last developer conference under that name With Ozzie fresh out of the company, Ballmer finally took the stage again to lead the main keynote of the event.The latest PDC saw the release of IE9 and served as the impetus for Windows Phone 7, while also demonstrating Microsoft's increasing commitment to Azure. Lots of opportunities to be prepared for, starting with improving these events and unifying them under the name of Build

Build: devices and services

The 2011 Build was the first under the new name. Anaheim in California would be the city chosen by Microsoft to present to the world the first public version of Windows 8 Steven Sinofsky and his team would be in charge of carrying out a long Demonstration of the new version of the operating system that would finally bring the Metro interface, now Modern UI, to the desktop.

A year later, in October 2012 and with Windows 8 finally on the market, Microsoft returned to its Redmond campus to continue what it had started years ago.Modern UI was already invading the three screens and Azure was configured as Microsoft's cloud proposal. Along the way, the Surface tablets had appeared and the company was already configured as the device and services company it claims to be today

This week Build will experience a new edition at the mythical Moscone Center in San Francisco, with the highlight of the first major Windows 8 update appearing in the form of a public preview. Twenty years later it is difficult to continue justifying that mantra that Windows is only software, but what is clear is that, at least during the three days of conferences, developers will once again be the protagonists, and then yes, once again,Software will be the only thing that matters

More information | PDC on Channel 9 | Build on Channel 9