Microsoft has decided to raise the cloud stakes and announced Dev Box, 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 team with all the tools needed to write code and deploy projects.
Dev Box is compatible with any IDE, SDK, or internal developer tools running 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 that can be accessed from Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and web browser.
Generally speaking, Dev Box is similar to the cloud computers offered under Windows 365, only this time thinking about developers. Although remote access to a PC has been around for many years, the advancement of cloud technology has helped Microsoft turn its products into services.
With Dev Box developers can work without hassle of setting up a PC
Office did the same with its desktop applications and eliminated the old model of buying software. Subsequently, Xbox offered a way to play in the cloud with xCloud that left aside the need to buy a console. With Dev Box you try to solve a problem that has existed 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
The Dev Box can be managed from a web portal where developers can create new workstations 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 already offered by the service. Like an office PC, developers can put it into hibernation in the cloud so that it activates only when needed.
For now, the cost of this service or the available plans are unknown. The hardware configurations that may be used are also not known. Windows 365 cloud computers are offered in 12 variants ranging from the low range (1 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 64 GB HDD) to the medium/high (8 cores, 32 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD). If we talk about workstations for developers, the configurations of Dev Box would have to be higher.
Microsoft announced that Dev Box will begin a testing phase and will be offered in public preview in the coming months.
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