wave is all about metered agents and local AI. Copilot is no longer autocomplete but a credit-metered agent platform, Business Central 28.3 ships agent testing features, and pricing pressure hits with M365 list-price increases from July 1 [+5% to +33% by SKU] and new pay-as-you-go billing for Copilot, Cowork and Scout. Infrastructure shifts to sovereign/local: Cobalt 200 VMs in preview, Maia 200 now in production, plus a multi-billion Microsoft x Mistral deal to run models on Azure and Azure Local in France. For customers, July 1 was the cutoff for legacy Azure Reserved VMs.
1. Microsoft Dynamics 365 (CRM & ERP)
- Business Central 28.3 (July 2026) GA: Minor update 28.3 rolling out via staged rollout. Focus on AI agents, extension management, Shopify B2B, subcontracting, and Excel export fixes.
- Sales Order Agent upgrades: New “Try it Out” sandbox experience and support for running multiple agents in parallel.
- Customer Experience operating model: Dynamics 365 now embeds Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) directly into Contact Center / Customer Service to manage AI + human workforce from same data.
- Licensing impact: M365 changes from July 1 driving 30-50% renewal risk if inactive seats/storage not cleaned; Business Premium 0% increase, F1 +33%, F3 +25%, Business Standard +12%.
2. Visual Studio
- Visual Studio 2026 AI-native: Azure MCP Server (Model Context Protocol) now built-in GA, enabling natural-language management of AKS, Container Apps, Cosmos DB, AI Foundry without context switching.
- VS 17.14.6+ supports new Copilot models: Kimi K2.7 Code and Sonnet 5 now selectable in model picker.
3. Microsoft Windows
- Build 2026 themes — Project Solara: Agentic Windows vision shown with movable taskbar returning, new Windows AI development APIs expanded to more PCs, and two new on-device edge models for local inference.
- AI PC Crossover Year: With Windows 10 EOL in late 2025, ∼250M enterprise PCs in refresh cycle; Arm-based Windows now ∼30% of new shipments led by Surface/Qualcomm.
- Recall 2.0 risk watch: Privacy/trust remains key risk for Surface brand if breach occurs.
4. Microsoft Azure Portal
- Cobalt 200 / Maia 200: Cobalt 200 Arm VMs (132 cores, up to 128 vCPU) now in early access preview with up to 135% better DB workload performance; Maia 200 inferencing chip (10 PF FP4, 216GB HBM3e) now in production in Iowa/Arizona.
- Mistral sovereign deal: Microsoft to fund Mistral’s EU infra; Mistral Medium 3.5 and OCR 4 added to Azure Foundry and Copilot Studio, plus runnable on Azure Local for disconnected scenarios.
- Commercial nudge: From July 1, 2026, no new/renewal 1-year Reserved VMs for Av2, Dv2, F, G, L families; Dv3/Ev3 lose both 1yr and 3yr reservations — existing reservations run to term but budget predictability removed.
5. SQL Server
- MSSQL Extension for VS Code v1.43: GA releases — Schema Designer with GitHub Copilot, Data API builder, SQL Notebooks; Public Preview of Azure SQL Database provisioning from VS Code.
- Platform alignment: Azure DevOps Server GA now supports SQL Server 2025 and SQL Server 2022.
- Azure Data Studio retired Feb 28, 2026: Migration path is VS Code with MSSQL extension and ADS Migration Toolkit.
6. GitHub Copilot
- July 1 agent stack update: Kimi K2.7 Code (first open-weight model in picker) hosted on Azure, Browser Tools GA in VS Code agents, per-session credit caps (
--max-ai-credits) as soft caps, and Auto model routing by task/health. - New pricing model: Since June 1, all plans metered on AI credits (1 credit = $0.01 after included pool); plans hold at Free / Pro $10 / Pro+ $39 / Max $100 but now include Vision GA, Sonnet 5, Kimi.
- Security:
/security-reviewcommand now in public preview for all tiers, plus PR code-scanning detections surfaced inline.
7. Xbox
- Gaming Copilot to consoles: Confirmed by Xbox PM at GDC, coming to Series X|S later in 2026 for in-game queries like Game Pass expiry, subscription help.
- Context: Follows new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s Feb pledge to avoid “soulless AI slop” — Copilot positioned as utility, not generative art replacement.
- Monetization tailwind: Activision Blizzard integration into Game Pass expected to drive record subscription revenue in 2026.
8. Surface
- Surface RTX Spark Dev Box: Compact AI workstation announced at Build 2026, NVIDIA RTX Spark, up to 1 petaflop, 128GB unified memory, runs 120B+ param models locally, 1M token context, preloaded with Win 11 Pro, VS Code, WSL2 GPU passthrough.
- Surface Laptop Ultra: Also teased with NVIDIA RTX Spark AI chip, simple chassis design.
- Positioning: Surface branding now used to legitimize local AI dev vs cloud-only, but pricing not yet announced — critical for adoption vs self-built rigs.
