The Most Interesting Products from Microsoft Build 2025
From major moves in Windows and GitHub to controversial AI partnerships and deep security integrations, here’s a full breakdown of our best pick.
Microsoft Build 2025 delivered a packed slate of announcements that touched nearly every corner of the developer ecosystem—AI, security, productivity, open source, and a growing roster of copilots ready to automate and accelerate our workflows.
The tone of the event was clear: Microsoft is building platforms for AI at scale while making sure developers stay in control. From major moves in Windows and GitHub to controversial AI partnerships and deep security integrations, here’s a full breakdown of our best pick.
1. Copilot+ PCs and Recall Redefine the Windows Experience
At Build, Microsoft made its intention of making the next PC AI-native with Copilot+ PCs, a new class of laptops built to run AI models locally, thanks to beefed-up NPUs (neural processing units). These machines aren't just fast, they’re smart. The star feature is Recall, which gives your device photographic memory by indexing everything you’ve seen or done on your computer. Want to find that chart you saw two weeks ago in a Teams call? Just describe it, and Recall finds it. Privacy sceptics might raise an eyebrow, but Microsoft insists it’s all processed locally with encryption and user control.
2. Windows Copilot Runtime Brings AI to Every App
Beyond native features, Microsoft introduced the Windows Copilot Runtime, a set of APIs and system-level AI features that let developers build smarter apps. Think of voice-enabled actions, app-level Recall, and image recognition, all powered by locally running small language models. With Copilot Stack, these models integrate across Windows, enabling everything from real-time translations to AI-assisted video editing. It’s Microsoft’s quietest but perhaps most powerful play, turning Windows into the ultimate AI app platform.
3. GitHub Copilot Extensions Supercharge the Dev Flow
GitHub Copilot is no longer just your pair programmer, it’s now your full-stack assistant. Microsoft launched Copilot Extensions, letting you plug in third-party tools like Docker, Azure, Sentry, and even your own internal APIs directly into Copilot’s workflow. Plus, GitHub Copilot Workspace now supports real-time context switching between code, issues, and documentation. Want to ask Copilot to “debug this crash using Sentry logs”? It knows what to do. The dev experience just got a serious upgrade.
4. Grok is Coming to Azure AI
Elon Musk’s “edgy” AI model Grok is officially joining the Azure party. Through Azure AI Foundry, businesses can now access Grok 3 and Grok 3 Mini, which are famously less filtered than most AI models. But don’t expect the wild-west version you’d find on X. Microsoft’s version is sandboxed with tighter governance, data integration, and compliance controls.
5. Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Is Now Open Source
This one’s for the command-line warriors. WSL is now open source. Microsoft finally closed the GitHub issue that’s been open since 2016, allowing developers to build WSL from source and contribute back. WSL has grown into a powerhouse, supporting everything from GPU access to graphical Linux apps. Making it open source means faster iteration and deeper community involvement. It’s also a big moment for Microsoft’s transformation, from fighting Linux to fully embracing it.
6. Microsoft Expands AI Security with Entra, Defender, and Purview
AI might be powerful, but it also needs guardrails. Microsoft dropped a massive AI security and governance bundle, baking Entra, Defender, and Purview directly into Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio. The highlight, Entra Agent ID, is a system that assigns unique identities to AI agents, giving enterprises visibility and control over non-human actors. Defender now integrates security alerts into dev environments (like catching jailbreak attempts in real time), while Purview’s new SDK enforces data protection across agent outputs. It’s Microsoft’s way of making AI development secure by design.
7. Team Copilot Turns Microsoft Teams into an AI Project Manager
Microsoft took its Copilot vision one step further with Team Copilot, an expansion of the AI assistant into collaborative spaces like Teams meetings, group chats, and Microsoft Planner. Instead of just helping individuals, Team Copilot acted as a shared project manager, taking meeting notes, assigning tasks, surfacing blockers, and summarising group chats in real time. While still in private preview, it marked a shift toward making Copilot a true operational teammate, not just a productivity tool. For teams juggling multiple threads, it’s a glimpse into a more organised (and AI-managed) future.
8. “Edit on Windows” Brings a Classic Back for Command-Line Fans
In a quieter but much-loved move for terminal purists, Microsoft introduced Edit, a new command-line text editor built directly into Windows. It’s a modern homage to the old MS-DOS “Edit” command, now reimagined with a clean, modeless interface that’s easier to pick up than Vim or Emacs. Lightweight, fast, and fully integrated with the Windows console, it gave developers a quick and accessible way to tweak files without ever leaving the terminal. It might not grab headlines like Copilot+, but for many devs, it was a nostalgic nod that showed Microsoft still sweats the small stuff.
Conclusion
Build 2025 showed that Microsoft isn’t slowing down in the AI race—it’s doubling down. But the message wasn’t just about speed; it was about control, trust, and usability. From giving AI a secure identity to handing developers smarter tools, and from building AI-native PCs to resurrecting a beloved terminal editor, this year’s Build covered both headline-grabbing innovations and thoughtful touches for everyday workflows.
Whether you’re coding in VS Code, running a team in Microsoft Teams, debugging in GitHub, or just editing config files from the command line, Microsoft wants AI to be your co-pilot—and your bodyguard. It's not just building for developers, it's building with them in mind, from the ground up.
Louis Eriakha
