Microsoft must be really excited about next spring's Build developer conference.

The company announced it will hold Build 2020 in Seattle from 19 May to 21 May. Microsoft hasn't started selling tickets to the show at this point, but it has a mailing list you can join to get more information. To be clear, announcing this event eight months in advance is unusual, to say the least. For comparison, for the past two years, Microsoft announced the dates for Build in February.

However, Microsoft's blog post from today also listed some other Microsoft events for this year and next year, so maybe the company just wants to keep everyone up to date on its schedule. Build is perhaps Microsoft’s biggest event of the year - aside from its autumn hardware event, which is set for October this year and will reportedly see new Surface devices and experiences debuted.

Build is less about hardware and more focused on developers. We usually learn more about Windows 10, features coming to Office, the Edge browser, the Cortana voice assistant, and other software and services. As a result, it's far too soon to say what's on the docket for Build 2020.