What you need to know
- Microsoft Dev Box will become generally available in July 2023.
- Dev Box is a cloud computing environment for developers that is built on the same tech as Windows 365.
- Several new Dev Box features are available in preview starting today, including 16 and 32 Core SKUs and the ability to hibernate 8 and 16 core dev boxes.
Microsoft has a growing number of cloud computing services. Last year at Build 2022, the tech giant unveiled Dev Box, a cloud PC service for developers powered by the same technology as Windows 365. At this year's Build, Microsoft shared that Dev Box will become generally available in July 2023.
Dev Box has been in private and public preview testing since it was initially announced. Microsoft worked with 50 organizations across a range of industries to improve the service. General Motors, National Instruments, and 1ES worked with Microsoft throughout public and private preview testing to provide feedback and refine Dev Box. Now, Dev Box is ready for prime time, or at least it will be in a few months.
Anthony Cangialosi, the group project manager of Microsoft's Developer Division, shared how Dev Box has evolved since it first rolled out in preview.
Cangialosi outlined Microsoft's priorities when improving the capabilities of Dev Box:
- Self-service developer workstations with SKUs that range from 8 to 32 core vCPUs, up to 128 GB of memory, and 2 TB of storage
- Project and role-specific images that can be pre-built with all the tools, configurations, source, and binaries to help developers get straight into their code
- Intune enrollment that delivers best-in-class device management to secure and monitor dev boxes alongside the rest of your portfolio
- Project-based virtual networks that enable admins to limit access to sensitive resources, databases, or internal endpoints to approved team members on specific dev boxes
In addition to working with partners to get feedback, Microsoft has rolled out Dev Box to many of its own employees. Over 9,500 engineers at the company already use one or more dev boxes. Cangialosi said the onboarding process that once took days now takes roughly 20 minutes.
Ahead of its launch in July, Dev Box will have the following features available in public preview:
- 16 and 32 Core SKUs
- Hibernate 8 and 16 core dev boxes
- General developer and pre-build Visual Studio starter images
- Config-as-code definitions for dev box (private preview)
- Visual Studio optimized for Dev Box
The new capabilities of Dev Box should reduce how long it takes developers to get back into their workflow, both when starting a project and when returning to work on any given day.
