Microsoft has announced that its 2014 Build conference—the major annual developer event—will be a repeat of 2013's event. The software company is heading back to the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

There is one thing that'll be different, however: the time. Build 2014 will be held from April 2 to April 4.

The first Build conferences, in 2011 and 2012, were held in autumn. In 2012 in particular, this made for some awkward timing: the developer conference, intended to get devs up to speed on Microsoft's new platforms, was shortly after the software's public release. The timing of this year's early summer event made much more sense for October's Windows 8.1 release.

There have been rumors that Microsoft is planning to move its major software releases to earlier in the year, with Windows Phone 8.1 in particular expected to come in the first half of 2014. Moving its developer conference earlier in the year would appear to be consistent with these rumors.