Registration for Microsoft's BUILD conference is now open and if you're one of the first 500 to get your name in the hat, you can score a $500 discount off the price of admission. The event is scheduled to kick off on June 26 and run through the 28th at The Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.

Attendees will have a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips during the three-day event. The event's website says they are working hard to finalize the full agenda of sessions and events but in general, conference goers can expect three days filled with sessions on topics like Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Windows Blue and virtually everything in between.

Microsoft will also be hosting a hackathon that starts the night before the conference at 7pm. Attendees can work solo or as part of a team to build apps from scratch using Windows, Windows Phone or Windows Azure for a chance to win prizes. Experts from Microsoft will be on hand to answer any questions that developers may have during the entire process.

The Windows 8 update codenamed Blue is expected to be at the forefront of the BUILD conference this year. We are hearing that this will be the only public preview of Blue before it is released to the public later this year.

Tickets start at $2,095 for the three-day event and are expected to sell out quickly. It may sound like a lot of money but for serious developers, it's likely a worthwhile investment.