Microsoft is building a new developer-target variant on its Azure Virtual Desktop service, called Microsoft Dev Box.

Microsoft Dev Box will allow developers to create a virtual machine that is automatically preconfigured in the cloud, eliminating the need to set up physical workstations before working on a project.

Microsoft Dev Box was unveiled on May 24, the first day of the Build 2022 developer conference. It allows developers to configure images, assign team members and start programming immediately.

Teams can create and maintain their Dev Box images and include their application source code as well as nightly built binaries, so they can access their code without lengthy rebuilds.

A developer portal will allow them to create and delete Dev Boxes for any project, and they will be able to perform tasks in parallel across multiple dev boxes if needed.

Dev Box is currently in private preview on May 24th. Officials said that the tool will move to the public preview in the next few months. There is still no statement on prices or licenses or even the general availability target.

Dev Box is built into Windows 365/Cloud PC, allowing IT administrators to manage preconfigured Dev Box workstations alongside any Cloud PC desktops.

The sources for this piece include an article in ZDNet.