A preview of Microsoft’s Dev Box is now available for developers via the Azure Portal
See what Microsoft’s cloud-based workstations can do for you.
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What you need to know
Microsoft took the wraps off of its newcloud-based Dev Box computing environment at Build 2022, and it has now launched a preview version of the service for the public to test out. Developers can use Dev Box to create effectively create cloud-based workstations with enough power to handle any task.
As Senior Editor Zac Bowden explained in his initial announcement post, Dev Box is “built off of the same techWindows 365is based upon,” meaning it can essentially be used on any PC from anywhere in the world. All users need to do is sign in through the Azure Portal in a browser and get to work.
As stated by Microsoft in the officialDev Box preview announcement, the environment offers broad support for any Windows IDE or SDK; in fact, any tool that can run on Windows will run in the cloud. Dev Box allows for cross-platform app building, and it can be accessed from pretty much any device or browser as long as you have an internet connection. Virtual environments with up to 32 virtual CPUs and 128GB of RAM are available, though you can drop down to 4 virtual CPUs and 16GB of RAM for less demanding tasks.
Dev boxes are deployed in the nearest region that Azure operates and connect via the Azure Global Network complete with Gigabit connections. From there, IT admins have the ability to give individual access to code and data, helping prevent unsecure handling.
Microsoft points out that users and their organizations will only pay for what they use within the Dev Box environment. As of August 15, a preview version of Dev Box is available to the public with the first 15 hours of an octa-vCPU with 32GB RAM SKU available for free every month. This also comes with 365 free hours of 512GB storage. Users are charged based on how many hours they use the CPUs and storage thereafter.
If you’d like to give Dev Box a shot, just sign into the Azure Portal and do a quick search for “Dev Box.“Microsoft’s dedicated Dev Box pagehas a lot more information to check out.
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Cale Hunt brings to Windows Central more than eight years of experience writing about laptops, PCs, accessories, games, and beyond. If it runs Windows or in some way complements the hardware, there’s a good chance he knows about it, has written about it, or is already busy testing it.
