Microsoft's big conference for programmers sold out in under an hour, despite no hardware giveaways

At 9 AM Pacific Time today, registration opened for Microsoft's big annual $4, to be held in San Francisco during the week of March 30th.

By 9:35 AM, the time I'm writing this, Microsoft Build 2016 was completely sold out, with a waitlist filling up rapidly.

That's despite the fact that as $4, there won't be any free hardware giveaways at Build 2016. Last year, for comparison, every attendee got an HP Spectre x360 laptop/tablet hybrid ready for a Windows 10 upgrade.

Instead, Microsoft says that Build 2016 will focus more on giving developers more and better options on workshops to boost their technical expertise.

All of this interest in Build is a big vote of confidence in CEO Satya Nadella's vision for Microsoft, which promises $4.