Microsoft lists "Something Awesome" as upcoming Build 2016 session

There has been rumours of something “mind-blowing” coming to Windows Mobile for some weeks now, so it is quite interesting to see a session titled “Something Awesome This Way Comes!” amongst the list of upcoming BUILD 2016 sessions.

The session description is not very revealing, being in fact blank, but we can get some clue from the team who will be delivering the session.

Russ Alexander, is a Senior Program Manager who worked was the lead developer for Project Astoria with his linkedin profile noting:

Windows Bridge for Android – Lead
• Lead Program Manager for the Android subsystem on Windows Mobile.
• Merged Android and Windows Mobile runtime paradigms allowing developers to run their Android code with minimum changes.
• Worked directly with third-party developers to bring their applications to Windows Mobile.

Ben Armstrong is a Principle Program Manager at Microsoft who works on the Hyper-V development team focused on building the next release of Hyper-V and on delivering the core technology for Windows Server containers.

Mike Harsh is another developer who used to work on Silverlight for Windows Phone, while Scott Hanselman is the Principal Community Architect for Web Platform and Tools at Microsoft.

The expertise involved suggests we may see a return of Project Astoria in some way.  The technology to bring Android apps to Windows Phone was announced last year, but was them later abandoned in favour of the iOS bridge Project Islandwood. It is of note however that the latest builds of Windows 10 now includes the same Linux and Android subsystem (though inactive) in the desktop suggesting again that it may return, and be even more powerful due to existing on both the desktop and Windows Mobile.

See the session here.