Highlights:

  • Dev Box is a tool that can be used by developers to construct applications for desktop computers, mobile devices, the Internet of Things, and the web.
  • Behind the scenes, Dev Box is powered by Microsoft’s Azure Virtual Desktop service and can be managed alongside Windows 365 Cloud PCs using Endpoint Manager.

Microsoft announced the release of its cloud-based developer-workstation service, Microsoft Dev Box, as a public preview. Dev Box as a service was introduced earlier this year at Microsoft’s annual Build developer conference and is intended to free programmers from worrying about infrastructure so that they can concentrate on writing code.

Microsoft Dev Box supports any Integrated Programming Environment (IDE), Software Development Kit (SDK), or tool that runs on Windows. Dev Box is a tool that can be used by developers to construct applications for desktop computers, mobile devices, the Internet of Things, and the web.

Windows Subsystem for Linux and Windows Subsystem for Android are both supported by Dev Box, thanks to the fact that it is a Windows environment hosted in the cloud. One can access Dev Box via any web browser on any device Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS, as well as any device running on any of those operating systems.

The Dev Boxes are available in various choices – from four virtual CPUs and 16 gigabytes (GB) of storage to 32 virtual CPUs and 128 GB of storage. During the preview time, businesses are eligible to receive free use of the first 15 hours of the Dev Box 8vCPU and 32GB of RAM monthly, in addition to unrestricted use of the first 365 hours of the Dev Box Storage SSD 512 GB SKU. After that, businesses would be charged according to the number of resources they consume per hour, using a pricing model based on consumption.

Behind the scenes, Dev Box is powered by Microsoft’s Azure Virtual Desktop service and can be managed alongside Windows 365 Cloud PCs using Endpoint Manager.

Microsoft has not yet made any public statements regarding the amount of money that Dev Box will cost once it is made accessible to the public or the time frame in which it will be made available. Microsoft has just launched the public preview of Dev Box.