microsoft has decided to up the ante cloud Y ad DevBox, a service that offers cloud workstations focused on developers. The new proposal plans to solve the problem of setting up and maintaining a computer, as developers access a virtual machine with all the tools needed to write code and implement projects.
Dev Box is compatible with any IDE, SDK or internal developer tools that run on Windows. The development team can preconfigure one or more workstations for specific projects and tasks. Later they will be available through a web portal to which can be accessed from Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and web browser.
In general terms, Dev Box is similar to the cloud computers offered under Windows 365, only this time with developers in mind. Although remote access to a PC has existed for many years, the advancement of technology in the cloud has helped Microsoft turn its products into services.
Microsoft Dev Box will try to solve the mess of setting up a PC to develop
Office did the same with its desktop apps, doing away with the old model of buying software. Later, Xbox offered a way to play in the cloud with xCloud that eliminated the need to buy a console. With Dev Box we try to solve a problem that has been around for a long time.
As developers, we need the flexibility to set up and maintain our workstation, but even “small changes” can unexpectedly poison our development environments, disrupting our flow and costing hours to undo.
Antonio Cangialosi. microsoft
Dev Boxes can be managed from a web portal where developers can create new work station for specific tasks or work in parallel. There you can adjust the hardware specifications and scale it according to your needs. Microsoft confirmed that they are suitable for developing projects for desktop, mobile devices, games, IoT and cross-platform applications using the Windows Subsystem for Linux.
The Dev Box integrates with Windows 365 and can operate with physical computers and virtual computers that the service already offers. Just like an office PC, developers can put it to hibernate in the cloud so that it is activated only when necessary.
For now, the cost of this service or the available plans are unknown. The hardware configurations that can be used are also unknown. Windows 365 Cloud PCs are offered in 12 variants ranging from low-end (1 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 64 GB HDD) to mid/high-end (8 cores, 32 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD). If we are talking about developer workstations, the Dev Box configurations would have to be larger.
Microsoft announced that Dev Box will start a testing phase today and will be offered in public preview in the coming months.