What you need to know

• Microsoft has announced the end for the Visual Studio IDE on Mac.
• Current users have another year of support planned, but no further new features will be released. 
• Users are being directed towards Visual Studio Code or towards Microsoft Dev Box (or other VM solutions on Mac) if they continue to need access to Visual Studio from September 2024. 

Another product is joining the Microsoft graveyard, albeit not a total cancellation. Users of the Visual Studio IDE on Mac are being notified that the end is nigh. From August 31, 2024, Visual Studio for Mac will be no more and will only be available as a legacy download. 

"Today we are announcing the retirement of the Visual Studio for Mac IDE. Visual Studio for Mac 17.6 will continue to be supported for another 12 months, until August 31st, 2024, with servicing updates for security issues and updated platforms from Apple. While the decision has been made to retire Visual Studio for Mac, we remain committed to our developers on Mac with alternatives like the recently announced C# Dev Kit for VS Code and other extensions that will allow you to take advantage of our ongoing investments in .NET development on a Mac."

So, why the end of life? Microsoft says the resources will be redirected towards enhancing Visual Studio (on Windows) and, more importantly, Visual Studio Code (VS Code). The popular cross-platform code editor occupies a significant market share, so it makes sense that more resources would be better spent there. Microsoft makes mention of the official C# Dev Kit extension for VS Code as an alternative for Mac users, alongside its Dev Box cloud VMs (or any other VM you can use Windows with on a Mac). 

Current users will still get support for Visual Studio on Mac until August 31, 2024, but there will be no new features, runtime or language updates through this period. Essential updates will continue until then, including bug fixes, security patches and anything relating to platform updates from Apple. But from September 1, 2024, Visual Studio for Mac will be retired and will only be available as a legacy download, completely unsupported for those with a valid subscription. 

One of the many strengths of making a software project open source is that its community can tinker, contribute or straight up fork it and make a custom version. Microsoft Visual Studio Code is an open-source code editor and it's one of the most popular apps of its kind on any platform.

But you're also not restricted to using it just in the form Microsoft offers for download, either, thanks to its open-source nature. You can, in fact, run a version of Visual Studio Code in your web browser, for free.

This isn't necessarily for everyone, but if you move across machines frequently, or even if you want to be able to do some impromptu coding from something like an iPad or even your smartphone, it's a good option to explore. You can just open it up and get to work wherever you are, without any need to configure your environment.

Running Visual Studio Code in the browser the easy way

Microsoft has now launched an official browser version of Visual Studio Code that can be found at vscode.dev. It integrates with Github allowing easy access to code stored in Github repos right from your web browser.

This isn't the same full fat version of Visual Studio Code you would use on the desktop, but it does have extension support. Not all extensions can be installed, but you'll probably find a good amount that can, such as those which can help you better parse the language you're coding in. You don't have a terminal, though, right now, so while it's extremely handy to have, it's probably not going to be your main IDE just yet.

Visual Studio Code in the browser with StackBlitz

If you're looking for an easy way to use Visual Studio Code with no setup and that you can just hop into a browser and open, StackBlitz is a fine way to accomplish this. It's totally free to use and is based on Visual Studio Code. Simply connect it to your GitHub account to log in.

The user interface is immediately familiar and there are a number of templates pre-configured to help you start a new workspace with a single click. StackBlitz is targeted at web development, so there are languages not offered right now, but you can sign up for beta access to the fullstack version which will offer even more. Extension support is also absent from StackBlitz at this time.

But if you were thinking this is some half-baked solution, you'd be wrong. StackBlitz uses Progressive Web APIs to run a live dev server inside your browser, not only allowing for live previews of your work but also offline use. Working offline is a pretty killer feature for a browser-based code editor.

There's a lot to appreciate in StackBlitz so if it sounds like something you might be interested in, the documentation and GitHub repo is a good place to start.

Visual Studio Code in the browser using code-server

A more full-featured way to use Visual Studio Code from the browser is with code-server, or the Coder service built upon it. Coder isn't free, though there is a 60-day trial, and it isn't limited to Visual Studio Code, either. It's a service aimed at larger distributions and enterprise use, allowing remote deployment of development environments using the cloud.

However, code-server is free and available on GitHub to build your own remote deployment. Whether that's on your own local machine or a remote machine hosted by any number of cloud providers.

There is a bit of setup involved with code-server and the exact steps will vary depending on where you're installing it. And if you're installing on a remote server you will need to be at least a little familiar with Linux.

Fortunately, code-server has a full tutorial on getting going and there is no shortage of great guides online from sources like YouTube that can walk you through a number of different uses of code-server. It's incredibly flexible and once the initial work is done, you'll have a full version of Visual Studio Code on any machine.

Using Chrome Remote Desktop

There is also the fact you could just use Chrome Remote Desktop as a bit of a cheese to use Visual Studio Code in a browser from another machine. If it's a regular thing, one of the other two methods here will certainly be better, but if it's just occasional use you'll be fine.

Chrome Remote Desktop allows you to use Chrome, Edge, or dedicated mobile apps, to connect to your desktop PC even if you're not on the same network. The drawback, of course, is that you need to leave your desktop machine on all the time for it to work.

But hey, in a pinch, it's a quick and easy way to connect to your regular desktop environment. It's free, simple to set up and absolutely superb.

What you need to know

• Microsoft has announced Visual Studio 2022 17.4 GA fully supports Arm64.
• Announced at Build 2022 along with Project Volterra, the latest version of Visual Studio 2022 completes the Windows on ARM devkit.
• Visual Studio 2022 with Arm64 support was in preview starting this summer but is now ready for general availability.

Microsoft is carrying on making Windows 11 as Arm64 friendly as it can be with the release of Visual Studio 2022 17.4 (GA). The release of this iteration of Visual Studio delivers a native Arm64 experience that “eliminates the need for emulation in most developer workflows,” according to Microsoft.

Visual Studio with Arm64 support was announced at Build 2022 as part of a larger initiative to push wider adoption of Windows on ARM. It went into preview over the summer. Besides the software, Microsoft announced a mini-PC dubbed “Project Volterra,” which was just released with the name Windows Dev Kit 2023. When combined, the complete devkit lets developers use one device to build and test Arm64 Windows applications without the need to buy more expensive Snapdragon mobile PCs.

Microsoft goes into more detail in the official announcement, which notes:

“We are happy to announce the first fully supported Arm64 version of Visual Studio that will natively run, allowing building, and debugging Arm64 apps on Arm-based processors.”

“17.4 GA delivers a native Arm64 experience for Visual Studio that eliminates the need for emulation in most developer workflows. While the improved x64 emulator helps the speed and performance of emulated apps on Arm devices, we know that the absolute best Arm developer experiences will be supported by tools that run natively on Arm64.”

“We are building a comprehensive end-to-end Arm-native developer toolchain that will provide a fast, familiar, and highly productive managed and native developer experience for Arm-based processors.”

Included in the release is support for the most valued workloads, according to the developer community’s feedback to Microsoft. The enabled workloads consist of:

• .NET desktop development
• Desktop development with C++
• NET and web development
• Universal Windows Platform development
• Visual Studio extension development
• Game development with C++
• Node.js development

For developers, there is nothing unique they need to do to develop new Arm64 apps or convert older x86 ones. When installing Visual Studio 2022 17.4 the installer detects the system architecture and then downloads and installs the Arm64 version of Visual Studio when it is run on an Arm64 device.

You can download Visual Studio 2022 17.4 right here.

What you need to know

• Visual Studio 2022 Preview 2 is now available as an ARM64 app.
• The preview build supports natively building and debugging ARM64 applications

Microsoft has released the first build of Visual Studio 2022 that's natively compiled for the ARM64 architecture. The company announced that this was coming at Build 2022 a few weeks ago, and while the program isn't yet ready for general availability, the company is ready to ship the new version of Visual Studio in preview form.

Mark Downie, a senior program manager for Visual Studio said the following:

"Our key goal with this preview is to introduce and stabilize the most popular Workloads used by developers who are building apps that run on Arm64, and to gather feedback from the community to help us prioritize additional experiences and Workloads as we work toward General Availability (GA) later this year."

The company says ARM64 development is a long-term investment, beginning with bringing the Windows 11 developer toolchain to ARM. With this first preview, the following workloads are supported:

• Desktop development with C++ (for MSBuild-based projects)
• .NET desktop development (WinForms, WPF) using both .NET Framework, and modern .NET.
• NET and Web development

This first preview release also includes support for Windows Forms, WPF, and Web apps, but support for Windows App SDK, .NET MAUI, and UWP apps will be available in later previews.

What you need to know

• Visual Studio 2022 17.1 has entered general availability.
• It includes changes to VS22 designed to enhance productivity.
• Changes to default settings, a new autosave feature, Git features, and more are all under the hood of the new 17.1 release.

Visual Studio 2022 17.1 has entered general availability and comes packed with not only fixes for existing issues but also changes and new features designed to help with productivity. Here are the highlights of the latest VS22 experience.

Indexed Find in Files is now enabled by default for speedier searching (however, it can be disabled if you really don't want it). There's also a new feature for autosaving that'll hopefully prevent you from losing any valuables.

Here's what Microsoft has to say about the feature and how it affects the Documents page (pictured above): "By selecting 'Automatically save files when Visual Studio is in the background' on this page, any time Visual Studio loses focus, it will try to save every dirty document in the IDE including project, solution, and even other miscellaneous files."

Beyond those items, prepare for new Git features. You can compare other repository branches against your current one, enjoy enhanced detached head support, and more. There's an entirely separate blog post dedicated just to the Git features, in case you want a more in-depth roundup of what's new than what the general announcement availability post spotlights.

Microsoft's Visual Studio 2022 17.2 preview has also launched, meaning if you want to stay ahead of the general availability crowd, you can. Here's what it includes:

• Bug fixes and improvements for .NET MAUI development
• Continued enhancements in the Git experience
• Support for new C# 11 refactorings, such as a new language feature called raw string literals
• New capabilities for local development with your data using SQLite, Postgres, and MongoDB data sources

As always, Microsoft requests your feedback on the state of Visual Studio, so don't hold back.

What you need to know

• Visual Studio 2022 is here, having hit general availability on November 8, 2021.
• VS 2022 packs a wide variety of features and capabilities, including the AI-buffed IntelliCode code companion and Hot Reload.
• It's the first 64-bit Visual Studio release.

The day has finally come: Visual Studio 2022 is here for any and all who are interested. It entered general availability on November 8, 2021, and was given a lengthy launch event stream as part of its debut festivities, which can be viewed on Microsoft's Visual Studio YouTube channel.

As to what all the fuss is about: VS 2022 comes with many, many features and utilities. Two that Microsoft highlighted for this latest release are IntelliCode and Hot Reload. IntelliCode is an AI-aided helper that can write code for you and give helpful suggestions pertaining to what you write. Hot Reload offers the ability to make changes to your code and see them implemented right away, no redeployments necessary.

Hot Reload made a big appearance at VS 2022's launch event, and for good reason given the utility of the feature. However, you may remember it receiving prominent attention recently for other reasons. It was at the center of a controversy wherein Microsoft ruffled the open-source community by briefly making Hot Reload a VS 2022 exclusive. That decision lasted a whole three days before the company backtracked and tried to make amends without actually explaining why it did what it did in the first place.

Beyond Hot Reload and IntelliCode, Microsoft notes that "there are hundreds of other things under the hood that will help you" in Visual Studio 2022. You can find a full list of what's what in the product's release notes and associated documents.

What you need to know

• Microsoft announced that the popular feature Hot Reload would be restricted to Visual Studio 2022.
• The move angered many .NET open-source developers and members of the open-source community.
• Opposition to Microsoft's decision led the company to backtrack its plans.

Microsoft stirred the pot with the open-source .NET community when it announced that a feature called "Hot Reload" would be exclusively available through Visual Studio 2022. Since then, after lots of backlash, it has changed its tune and reversed its decision.

In the original blog post wherein Hot Reload's Visual Studio 2022 exclusivity was announced, Microsoft said "[...] we've decided that starting with the upcoming .NET 6 GA release, we will enable Hot Reload functionality only through Visual Studio 2022 so we can focus on providing the best experiences to the most users. We'll also continue to pursue adding Hot Reload to Visual Studio for Mac in a future release."

After pushback from developers and various members of the affected .NET community, Microsoft changed its tune. On October 23, 2021, three days after the announcement that sparked the initial fire, Microsoft made a new blog post, saying "we made a mistake in executing on our decision and took longer than expected to respond back to the community. We have approved the pull request to re-enable this code path and it will be in the GA build of the .NET 6 SDK."

For a quick primer on what Hot Reload is: It's a developer tool that allows for source code modification and implementation all while an app is running, saving people the hassle of having to restart their application to see their changes actualized.

Many remain unsatisfied with Microsoft's actions and its lack of transparency. Though the company has reversed a change that upset many, the question remains regarding why said change was in the cards at all. Some speculate it was an attempt to steer people away from the open-source route and toward Visual Studio.

What you need to know

• Microsoft briefly had an announcement post up for Visual Studio Code for the Web.
• The announcement post has since been taken down, though you can view an archived version of it.
• Visual Studio Code for the Web runs entirely in the browser.

Microsoft looks like it will announce Visual Studio Code for the Web soon. An announcement post for the browser-based version of Visual Studio Code briefly appeared on Microsoft's website but has since been taken down. You can view an archived version of the announcement thanks to the Wayback Machine.

Based on the removed announcement post, Visual Studio Code for the Web is a web-based code editor that runs entirely within a browser. People can use it to browse source code that's hosted on GitHub and on a local machine. In the future, it will also work with Azure Repos.

Since Visual Studio Code for the Web does not have access to compute resources, it can't be used to build, run, or debug applications. Visual Studio Code for the Web can not access the integrated terminal either.

People will have the option to "upgrade" Visual Studio Code for the Web to a GitHub Codespaces instances when they need to do more, such as building, debugging, using Visual Studio Code extensions, and accessing the integrated terminal.

Once it is live, people should be able to access Visual Studio Code for the Web by going to https://vscode.dev/. Microsoft's removed announcement post explains that "Everyone can use VS Code for the Web for free."

The published date of the removed announcement post was August 31, 2021. We'll have to wait to see when Microsoft announces the service officially.

What you need to know

• Visual Studio has been a 32-bit platform in the past.
• Visual Studio 2022's first preview build offers 64-bit support.
• The new preview build is now available.

Microsoft's released its first preview build of Visual Studio 2022 and it doesn't just want you to try it out for yourself; it wants your feedback. Here's what Microsoft had to say about the Visual Studio preview in its blog post announcing the release.

"Our key goal with this preview is to test and tune the scalability of the new 64-bit platform! With the new 64-bit platform Visual Studio is now capable of scaling to make use of all the system resources you have to improve the reliability of Visual Studio especially when working with complex solutions or using Visual Studio over long periods of time. The 64-bit conversion effort affects every part of Visual Studio, so the scope is much bigger than our usual previews."

And here's the brief 20-second video Microsoft released to celebrate the preview's release.

According to Microsoft, customers were able to run solutions with over 700 projects in this new iteration of Visual Studio's early testing phase. For a full look at what's cooking under the hood, check out the preview's release notes.

But that's not all: Visual Studio 2022 has a roadmap that outlines what the plan is for it beyond preview one. Everything from container tool improvements to C++20 language feature support will hit the platform.

For all the latest developments on Microsoft's products, be they Visual Studio 2022 or Windows 11, keep checking Windows Central.

What you need to know

• Microsoft will release the first public preview of Visual Studio 2022 this summer.
• Visual Studio 2022 is a 64-bit app and is faster than its predecessors.
• The updated developer tool will also have new icons, more personalization options, and facilitate real-time collaboration.

Microsoft announced the first public preview of Visual Studio 2022 this week. Microsoft will release the first public preview of the updated developer tool this summer, though it didn't specify an exact date. Visual Studio 2022 includes several improvements, the biggest being a bump up to being a 64-bit app. Microsoft announced the changes in a recent blog post.

Microsoft says that Visual Studio 2022 will be "faster, more approachable, and more lightweight" than its predecessor. With it being a 64-bit app, it will be able to open, edit, run, and debug larger solutions without dealing with limitations on memory. The move to being a 64-bit app removes the 4GB memory limit. Importantly, while Visual Studio 2022 itself is a 64-bit app, it can still be used to create 32-bit apps if you'd like.

On top of being faster and less limited, Visual Studio 2022 features a refreshed design. It has new icons, supports the Cascadia Code font, and has refreshed product themes. The tool also has new personalization options that make it easier to fit into your workflow. Additionally, it integrates with Accessibility Insights to help you spot any accessibility issues early on.

Visual Studio 2022 works with Azure resources, .NET 6, and C++ 20, which allows developers to program for a vast range of devices. For example, Visual Studio 2022 supports the .NET Multi-platform App UI for cross-platform client apps on Windows, Android, macOS, and iOS.

Like many modern tools from Microsoft, Visual Studio 2022 will support real-time collaboration. You'll be able to use integrated text chat to discuss code. It will also support scheduling recurring sessions that reuse links, making it easy to work together with the same people throughout a project.

Visual Studio 2022 also includes performance improvements for the core debugger and code search.

The macOS version of Visual Studio 2022 will move to native macOS UI, which brings better performance and reliability. It also allows the tool to fully utilize the accessibility features of macOS.

What you need to know

• Microsoft Visual Studio Code now supports Apple new silicon.
• The support for Apple's Silicon means that the app doesn't have to run through emulation.
• As a result, the app should perform better and use less power.

Microsoft Visual Studio Code now officially supports Apple's new silicon. The update brings improved performance and better battery life when using the app because it no longer has to run through emulation.

The update brings Visual Studio Code to version 1.54. The post announcing the update is titled "February 2021," but the update actually came out yesterday (via iMore).

With support for Apple's new silicon, owners of the M1 versions of the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini will see the benefits of a native app. Those are three of the best Macs you can buy, and future Mac devices will also run on Apple's silicon.

Microsoft said in its post announcing the update:

The update is a universal one, which means that there is one version of the app that will work on Macs no matter what type of chip they run.

In addition to adding support for Apple's new silicon, the update brings improvements to Timeline view, improvements to keyboard navigation for toolbars and tabs, and several other changes.

What you need to know

• Visual Studio 2019 has several improvements that speed up build and link time for game developers.
• The improvements help developers of games such as Forza Horizon 4 spend more time writing code.
• Link times in Visual Studio 2019 are 18.15 times faster than in Visual Studio 2017.

Visual Studio's C++ team improved the build and link times for Visual Studio 2019, which resulted in link times that are 18.15 times faster than in Visual Studio 2017. As a result, game developers of popular titles like Forza Horizon 4 can spend more time coding and improving games and less time compiling things.

The improvements and explanations of these changes are rather technical, especially for non-developers such as myself, but the end result is that game developers get to spend more time doing what they do best, developing games. The improvements to Visual Studio 2019 and how they affect game development are outlined in a new blog post from David Li, Microsoft Visual Studio C++ program manager.

Andrew Sage from Playground Games explains:

As a result of these changes, the developers can compile files much quicker. The blog explains (emphasis from Li):

The impressive improvements that the move to Visual Studio 2019 brings result in very concrete changes. Sage from PlayGround Games explains (emphasis added):

This blog post from Li is the second post on this topic. You can also read Li's work on how the Coalition saw a 27.9 times iteration build improvement thanks to Visual Studio 2019.

Xbox Series X/S

Main

• Xbox Series X: Everything we know
• Best games coming to Xbox Series X/S
• List of Xbox Series X specs
• What is the Xbox Series X release date?
• How much does Xbox Series X cost?
• Why you can't preorder Xbox Series X yet
• Best Xbox Series X Headsets

It's easy to dismiss Chromebooks and while Google's laptops don't use an OS on the same scale as Windows 10, but the platform has been maturing over time into something lightweight but still well featured.

And with Chromebooks becoming more and more popular, particularly in the budget space, there are more people looking to do more things with them. And that includes coding. Yes, coding.

Microsoft's free Visual Studio Code is an incredible piece of software for coding and the good news is that it's now usable on a Chromebook.

Here's what you need to know.

Making sure Linux is enabled on your Chromebook

What makes the magic happen is the Crostini Linux container on Chrome OS which will allow you to install the Linux version of Visual Studio Code on your Chromebook.

If you don't already have that enabled, it's really straightforward.

1. Open Settings.
2. Locate Linux (Beta) in the sidebar.
3. Click Turn on.

4. At the next window, click Next.

5. Give your Linux install a username.
6. Decide how much space you want to dedicate from your internal storage to it.

7. Click Install.

The Linux container will now begin to download and install itself on your Chromebook. You'll know it's finished when a terminal window pops up and then you can move on to the next step.

How to install Visual Studio Code for Linux on Chrome OS

Once Linux is enabled on your Chromebook getting up and running with Visual Studio Code is beyond simple.

1. Head to the Visual Studio Code website.
2. Download the .deb Debian package.

3. Open the Files app.
4. Locate the downloaded package.

5. Right-click and select Install with Linux (Beta).
6. Click Install.

From here on out you'll be able to launch Visual Studio Code from the app drawer like any other application on your Chromebook once the Linux installer has finished. You can also launch it from the terminal simply by typing code.

When downloading the installer make sure you grab the right version for your Chromebook. The September 2020 update of Visual Studio Code added support for ARM-based Linux machines, which means you can now use it on devices like the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. If you are on an ARM Chromebook, download the ARM version of the installer, if you're on an AMD or Intel Chromebook, you want the x64 installer.

The stock install of Visual Studio Code is deliberately barebones and lightweight, so you'll need to spec it out to your requirements with extensions. Fortunately there's a host of these both from Microsoft and third-parties that you can install right from within Visual Studio Code. You're literally a few clicks away from starting to code.

What you need to know

• Visual Studio Code is a free, open source code editor from Microsoft.
• It's available cross-platform on Linux and Mac, and also Chromebooks that support Linux apps.
• Official ARM support for Linux now brings the application to ARM based Chromebooks, Linux machines like the PineBook Pro and the Raspberry Pi.

Microsoft Visual Studio Code is one of the most popular pieces of programming software on the planet, in part because it's available on any plaform a developer might want to use it on. At least, mostly. One missing piece was ARM support for Linux devices, but with the latest update, 1.50, that's been rectified.

It may sound like small news on the face of it, but this has two potentially huge applications. The first is the Raspberry Pi. While hardly the first choice in hardware for intensive software development, the Pi runs an ARM CPU and Linux and now it can run Visual Studio Code. The Raspberry Pi 4 is also a pretty potent little machine in its own right, with up to 8GB of RAM now on offer, but Visual Studio Code also makes it extremely easy to leverage remote machines for more intensive workloads.

The other big application is ARM Chromebooks such as the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. It's been possible to install Visual Studio Code on Chromebooks with Linux support for some time, but ARM-powered devices have been lacking. Now it's officially a thing, downloading the ARM installer from the Visual Studio Code downloads page will get the job done.

The same applies as to the Raspberry Pi, too. Generally speaking ARM-based Chromebooks, or even laptops like the Pinebook Pro aren't going to cut the mustard for intensive workloads, but Visual Studio Code needs only a simple extension installed to leverage a more powerful, remote machine you may have access to.

What you need to know

• Visual Studio Live Share now supports text and voice chat in public preview.
• Visual Studio Codespaces has lower pricing for all instance types.
• GitHub Actions for Azure are now integrated with Visual Studio Code, Azure CLI, and in the Azure Portal.

Microsoft announced several updates and improvements to Visual Studio today. Multiple new features will help developers communicate and work together to create and implement code. First, Visual Studio Live Share now supports text and voice chat in public preview. Second, Visual Studio Codespaces, which was previously known as Visual Studio Online, has lower pricing for all instance types. Additionally, GitHub Actions for Azure are now integrated with Visual Studio Code, Azure CLI, and in the Azure Portal. Visual Studio Codespaces can now be accessed from Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio (Private Preview), or in a browser-based editor.

Visual Studio Live Share allows developers to collaborate and co-edit code. It can be used to coordinate coding efforts and debug in real time. With the addition of text and voice chat, developers can communicate more efficiently. Visual Studio Live Share now also supports sharing running apps. These new features should help developers work more within a single program rather than having to jump between apps to communicate and work. Developers can retain their personal editor preferences and their own cursor, so they can work together or independently within a shared space.

Microsoft recently renamed Visual Studio Online to Visual Studio Codespaces. As part of that announcement, Microsoft shared that lower prices are available starting today. The name change occurred to help people understand that Visual Studio Codespaces is more than an "editor in a browser." People can now access Codespaces from more devices through Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio (Private Preview), or from a browser-based editor. Additionally, Codespaces is now available in GitHub in private preview.

Microsoft broke down new pricing for Visual Studio Codespaces in its announcement of the Visual Studio Online name change. Starting today, if you use a Standard Linux instance type (4 cores, 8GB RAM), it will cost you $0.17 per hour. Previously, a Standard Linux instance type costs $0.45 per hour. Premium Linux instance types (8 cores, 16GB RAM) cost $0.34 per hour now compared to their previous rate of $0.87 per hour. Microsoft points out that these prices are approximate, and you can use the Azure pricing calculator to determine how much it will cost. That calculator will be updated by Build 2020, which starts today.

What you need to know

• Visual Studio Online is being rebranded as Visual Studio Codespaces.
• The change helps reflect the capabilities of the service.
• Microsoft is also introducing lower prices for Visual Studio Codespaces starting May 19, 2020.

Microsoft's Visual Studio Online will now be known as Visual Studio Codespaces. The rebranding reflects the capabilities of the service better than being branded as simply an online editor, according to Microsoft. Microsoft announced the name change in a blog post earlier today (via ZDNet). Additionally, Microsoft announced lower prices for the service that will go into effect on May 19, 2020.

Microsoft explains in its blog post that developers view Visual Studio Online as more than an "editor in the browser." Specifically, Microsofts that developers say "the capabilities of this cloud-hosted dev environment make it the space where I want to write all my code." Because having online in the name can suggest a lighter or limited version of a service, Microsoft is rebranding the service to Visual Studio Codespaces.

Microsoft also breaks down new pricing for the service in the blog post. Starting May 19, if you use a Standard Linux instance type (4 cores, 8GB RAM), it will cost you $0.17 per hour. Currently, a Standard Linux instance type costs $0.45 per hour. Premium Linux instance types (8 cores, 16GB RAM) will cost $0.34 per hour compared to their current rate of $0.87 per hour. Microsoft points out that these prices are approximate, and you can use the Azure pricing calculator to determine how much it will cost. That calculator will be updated by Build 2020 (May 19-21).

If a developer has self-hosted environments, any machine can be registered to Visual Studio Codespaces for free. Developers can then connect to it from VS Code or Microsoft's browser-based editor.

What you need to know

• Microsoft has created an Insider landing page with quick links to all of its various programs.
• The page offers quick access to everything from the Windows Insider program to Bing and Skype.
• You can access the new site from insider.microsoft.com.

Microsoft runs quite a few Insider programs for testing new features across its various services. That's great for making sure the next hot new capabilities undergo scrutiny before their wider release, but it can make keeping track of them a little daunting. Now, things are getting a little easier with the launch of a dedicated Insider landing page that links out to each of the ongoing programs.

Accessible at insider.microsoft.com, the landing page lists each of the programs, including those for Bing, Microsoft Edge, Office, Skype, Visual Studio Code, Windows, and Xbox. Along with each entry, there's a short description, as well as links to pages where you can learn more and register for each Insider program.

The site is fairly basic, but that's likely by design. The goal is to make each of the Insider programs available as easy to access as possible. If you've ever wanted to venture beyond the Windows Insider program and see some of the early features Microsoft is cooking up for Bing, Skype, Office, and the like, you can head to the new landing page to check out more.

Portable (and affordable) power accessories we love

Each and every one of these charging gadgets will keep your favorite gear and gadgets going for longer, and none of them costs more than $30.

VisionTek 8,000 mAh micro-USB power bank ($13 at Dell)

This compact dual-output powerbank can speedily recharge any and all your devices, thanks to a two-amp "fast charge feature," using its micro-USB out port. Its simple design includes an LED indicator, and it costs about as much as a single ticket to the movies.

Panasonic eneloop AA batteries (From $13 at Dell)

Panasonic's rechargeable batteries are among the best available, and just a couple of them will keep your favorite remote, mice or other peripherals powered up when you need them. They're also eco. And the company's affordable charger fits and charges both AA and AAA batteries at the same time.

Belkin Qi Wireless Charging Pad ($30 at Dell)

This unobtrusive Qi wireless charging pad looks good (and kind of like a UFO …) and easily charges all your Qi-compatible device up to 5W. Its LED indicator lights up when you're charging. And it costs just $30.

Developers of all stripes can now get their hands on Visual Studio 2019. The latest version of the development tool is generally available starting today for Windows and Mac, bringing a ton of improvements for developers to check out.

New in Visual Studio 2019 are various UI tweaks, including a new start screen that has been redesigned to work with Git repositories. You'll also notice UI changes like a new icon, a blue theme, and a cleaner interface, once you've started a project.

Visual Studio's IntelliCode AI can also now be trained on your own repositories, meaning it will be better at suggesting coding patterns that appear in your own projects. This release also marks the launch of Live Share, which lets you collaborate on coding projects in real-time with other members of your team.

Those are the highlights, but other tweaks include improvements to code navigation, a document health indicator, and one-click code clean-up. You can check out the full release notes for Visual Studio 2019 to get a detailed rundown of what's new.

To coincide with Visual Studio 2019's launch, Microsoft is also holding a day-long streaming event, which includes plenty of sessions to go over what's new and how you can take advantage of the improvements.

You can download Visual Studio 2019 from Microsoft now.

Ahead of its scheduled April 2 general release, Microsoft has made available the release candidate for Visual Studio 2019. Developers who want to dive in early with a near-final version of Microsoft's latest integrated development environment (IDE) can download the Visual Studio 2019 RC now (via Neowin).

Along with the launch of the release candidate, Microsoft has also outlined a plan for two release channels for Visual Studio 2019 going forward. From Microsoft:

Additionally, you can now choose to download either the Community, Professional, or Enterprise editions for either release channel. Prior to today's release, only the Enterprise edition was available to download with the Visual Studio 2019 preview.

Visual Studio 2019 will get a full release on April 2, alongside an all-day launch event that will feature a variety of live-streamed sessions and Q&A opportunities. For more on what's new with the release candidate, you can check out the full release notes from Microsoft.

Microsoft only just released the first Visual Studio 2019 preview in December, but it's gearing up to launch it to everyone soon. Visual Studio 2019 will get its formal launch on April 2, alongside a full day of live-streamed sessions and Q&A opportunities for developers to check out.

Visual Studio 2019 will come with several improvements, including various UI and AI tweaks. The most obvious change upon firing it up, however, will be the new start screen, which has been redesigned to work with Git repositories. Once you've started a project, you'll note more UI changes, such as a new icon, a blue theme, and a cleaner interface.

Visual Studio's IntelliCode AI can now be trained on your own repositories, making it better at suggesting coding patterns that are common to your projects. The latest release also includes Live Share by default, allowing you to collaborate with others on coding projects.

There are also more general performance improvements throughout, and you can get a full sense of what's new with Visual Studio 2019 by checking out Microsoft's release notes.

As for April 2, you can look forward to a number of sessions and Q&A opportunities throughout the day as Visual Studio 2019 launches. For more about the agenda, take a look at the Visual Studio 2019 launch page.

Microsoft today pushed out version 3.0 of its open-source Windows Template Studio, bringing a handful of tweaks for developers to check out. The additional features are pretty small in nature, but the biggest is likely that code will now generate as a "multi-project solution."

Here's a rundown of what's new, along with the developer platform updates:

• Code now generates as a multi-project solution. This will enable better reuse and separation of code logic. This now will output a UWP project and .NET Core project.
• Support adding new projects on right click
• Horizontal Navigation View is replaced the Pivot navigation pattern.
• Update MVVMLight to use .NET Standard library
• Bug fixes
• AdaptiveCards to v1.1.2
• AppCenter.Analytics to v 1.12.0
• AppCenter.Crashes to v 1.12.0
• Services.Store.Engagement to v10.1810.16002
• UI.Xaml to v2.0.181018003.1
• Json to v12.0.1
• UI.for.UniversalWindowsPlatform to v1.0.1.3

Looking forward, Microsoft revealed several additional features it's working on for future releases of Windows Template Studio. Here's the rundown:

• Menubar navigation pattern template (ETA is v3.1)
• Identity Login (ETA is v3.1)
• Improved Visual Studio 2019 support
• Azure features starting to be added in (v3.1 and beyond)
• Unit Test projects

For a full, in-depth look at version 3.0's changes, you can see the full, in-depth list of changes and check out Windows Template Studio version 3.0 at GitHub.

As it kicks off its Connect(); 2018 conference today, Microsoft is making a slew of announcements for developers. The biggest bit to come out of the event is the launch of the first Visual Studio 2019 preview, which is now available for developers to download.

At launch, the Visual Studio 2019 preview packs several improvements, ranging from UI tweaks to AI improvements to IntelliCode. Microsoft also says this iteration of Visual Studio has been designed to make it faster to work with projects in git repositories.

The most immediate change you'll notice is a new start window when firing up Visual Studio 2019 for the first time. The window has been redesigned to work with Git repositories, whether they be local repos or stored on GitHub, Azure Repos, or other repositories. Once you've opened a project, there are more UI changes, including a new icon, a fresh blue theme, and an overall cleaner interface.

The search experience has also received an overhaul, allowing you to search for settings, commands, and install options. The search improvements also apply to debugging, with search capabilities added to Autos, Locals, and Watch windows.

IntelliCode can now be trained on your own code repositories, making it better at suggesting the most common coding patterns for your project. And if you use Visual Studio Live Share to collaborate with others, it's now installed by default in Visual Studio 2019.

Finally, in addition to launching the first Visual Studio 2019 preview today, Microsoft is also launching .NET Core 3 preview 1 and open sourcing WPF, Windows Forms, and WinUI. The three Windows UX frameworks are now available and open for contributions on GitHub (WPF, Windows Forms, WinUI).

For more, you can check out all of what's new in Visual Studio 2019 at Microsoft.

Microsoft is gradually feeding elements of its Fluent Design language throughout its services, and the latest to receive a touch-up is Visual Studio Team Services. In a blog post this week, Microsoft offered an early look at the new style, along with an overview of how it's mixing up navigation to make things easier on developers (via OnMSFT).

"The goals of the new design language are to be clear, to gracefully support high information density, and – of course – be fast," Microsoft says. "The result will be an emphasis on the content of your work while providing a consistent and predictable experience across all aspects of VSTS."

Some of the major new elements of the redesign include moving project navigation to the left, along with color accents for service icons and new section icons. A global header will now be present on every page, allowing you to see where you are while providing access to global controls.

A new flyout menu available next to the project name will let you quickly create new pull requests and file bugs. A similar "My Work" flyout offers quick access to pull requests, work items, and favorites from anywhere from within Visual Studio Team Services.

Finally, the homepage now includes access to recent projects (seen above), along with the option to search all of your projects associated with whatever account you're currently using. The settings menu has also been cleaned up to make it easier to navigate, with specific settings being grouped by their service.

The latest updates to Visual Studio Team Services are opening up in preview now, and the option to opt-in for the new navigation elements will be slowly rolled out over the coming weeks, Microsoft says. Once enabled, you'll be able to access the updated navigation by clicking your profile picture at the top right of a project and selecting "New Navigation" from the "Preview Features" menu.

Microsoft today offered a look at what's next for Visual Studio, including a peek at the next major release: Visual Studio 2019. In its blog post, the company is light on details, but it did offer up some of its goals for the release.

According to Microsoft, the company is still in the "early planning phase" for Visual Studio 2019 and Visual Studio for Mac. Along with general improvements to make the developer tool more reliable and more productive, Microsoft has some concrete goals in mind. From Microsoft:

Once it enters preview, developers will be able to install Visual Studio 2019 right alongside Visual Studio 2017. That said, there's no timeline available for release, with Microsoft only promising more information in "the coming months."

In the meantime, if you're eager to get an early peek at features coming to the current Visual Studio 2017, you can sign up to test the Visual Studio Preview. Hopefully, we'll learn more about what to expect from the 2019 release soon.

Microsoft today announced new capabilities for Visual Studio at its Build 2018 developer conference. Available in preview, the new tools, IntelliCode and Live Share, will let developers tap into AI and seek assistance from others from within Visual Studio.

Perhaps the most interesting addition is Visual Studio IntelliCode. As is a theme with Build 2018, IntelliCode leverages AI to give developers assistance with improving their code. The tool can provide suggestions on how to improve both code quality and productivity, Microsoft says.

Meanwhile, Visual Studio Live Share will let you collaborate with other members of your team in real-time. Available in Visual Studio and VS Code, developers will be able to use Live Share to securely share their session with others who can then simultaneously edit and debug from their end. Live Share was originally announced at Connect(); 2017 and has been available as part of a private preview.

In other Visual Studio news, Microsoft also announced it is partnering with GitHub to bring Azure DevOps services to GitHub customers. Visual Studio App Center and GitHub can now integrate with one another, allowing developers to automate DevOps processes from within GitHub.

Visual Studio IntelliCode and Live Share are in preview now. The Visual Studio App Center and GitHub integration is available today.

A new update for Windows Template Studio is now available, ticking the Visual Studio extension up to version 2.0. And although Windows Template Studio has been on a steady march for the past several months, adding new features along the way, version 2.0 appears to be focused more on creating a better overall experience.

According to Microsoft, the interface has been improved to be "faster and more approachable," and the wizard now detects the dark, light, and high contrast modes of Visual Studio.

Microsoft is also teasing the adoption of the NavigationView control when the next Windows 10 update is released. "In addition, once the next update to Windows 10 is released, we'll adopt the platform NavigationView control over the UWP Community Toolkit's great Hamburger menu control, which already does do a smart flip between their classic and the platform control," Microsoft says. "We're currently working on documentation to aid in that transition between the existing control and the new platform control as well."

Windows Template Studio was originally released in 2017 as a replacement for Windows App Studio, a web-based tool for easily creating apps without much coding knowledge. If you want to experiment with Windows Template Studio, it's available to download as an extension for Visual Studio now. If you already have it installed, you can head to Tools >Extensions and Updates and choose the "Update" option by Windows Template Studio.

Another Windows Template Studio update is now available, bringing the Visual Studio extension up to version 1.7. The highlight feature of this update is support for Visual Basic, but there are a handful of other tweaks and additions, including Prism framework support.

Here's a full look at what's new:

New Programming Language Support:

• Visual Basic

New Framework Support:

• Prism framework

Updated Feature:

• URI Schema launching for Caliburn.Micro added.

Template improvements:

• Tweaks for consistence across all frameworks and languages
• Fix for bug where we have a toast and first time prompt crash.
• Fix for JSON Helper (#1659)

Improvements to the Wizard:

• Lots of under the hood bug fixes and code improvements
• Changed how we handle verifying new templates. This process should be much faster now.

Improvements to Process and Tooling:

• Improved unit testing for verifying templates

Looking toward the future, Microsoft says that it has a few other features cooking for upcoming versions. Those include ink templates, further refinements for Fluent Design in templates, and interface improvements.

Windows Template Studio is a Visual Studio extension that takes took the place of Windows App Studio, a web-based tool used to create apps without coding knowledge, last year. If you're interested in giving it a shot, you can grab the extension directly from Microsoft. If it's already installed, you should be able to update to version 1.7 now.

Another Windows Template Studio update is now available, ticking the Visual Studio extension up to version 1.6 with a new batch of features.

Included in this release are further improvements to the wizard, as well as support for an image gallery page and more. Here's a look at all of what's new:

New Pages:

• Image Gallery

New Features:

• Drag and drop source
• Web to App Link

Template improvements:

• Minor tweaks for Fluent
• Discovered a few pages that set background color

Improvements to the Wizard:

• Lots of under the hood bug fixes and code improvements
• Much more Visual Basic engine work
• Work for supporting multiple projects in a single solution
• Work to support Prism

In terms of future updates to Windows Template Studio, Microsoft says to expect Visual Basic support, UI improvements, ink templates, and more Fluent Design tweaks in the available templates.

Windows Template Studio is Microsoft's replacement for Windows App Studio, a web-based tool used to create apps without requiring coding knowledge. Windows App Studio was officially retired as of December 1.

If you already have Windows Template Studio installed in visual Studio, you should be able to update to version 1.6 now. The extension can also be downloaded directly from Microsoft.

Microsoft has launched version 1.5 of Windows Template Studio, an update that brings several improvements to the Visual Studio extension across the board.

In this release, Microsoft has continued to improve the wizard. The update also packs new features for sharing, tweaks to templates, and much more. Here's a full look at what's new, from the release notes:

New Features

• Share source, share target
• Multi-view
• Feedback hub (added in v1.4)

Template improvements

• Minor tweaks for Fluent
• Caliburn.Micro Support (added in v1.4)

Improvements to the Wizard

• Localization in all Visual Studio supported language
• Adjusted the feature categories
• Lots of under the hood bug fixes and code improvements
• Much more Visual Basic engine work
• Work for supporting multiple projects in a single solution
• Work to support Prism
• Bug fixes

As for future updates to Windows Template Studio, Microsoft says it is working on a new image gallery feature, visual basic support, prism support, and much more.

Windows Template Studio has taken the place of Windows App Studio, a web-based tool for easily creating apps without coding knowledge. Windows App Studio was fully retired as of December 1, leaving Windows Template Studio in its stead.

If you already have the Windows Template Studio extension installed in Visual Studio, you should be able to update it now. Otherwise, you can grab Windows Template Studio at Microsoft now.

Speaking at its Connect(); 2017 developer event today, Microsoft took the wraps off of Visual Studio Live Share, a new collaborative coding feature for developers. Currently in development, Visual Studio Live Share will allow developers using Visual Studio 2017 or Visual Studio Code to work on a project together in real-time.

When you start a collaborative session, Microsoft says, your teammates can read code you've shared without having to clone a repo or install any dependencies. From Microsoft:

Visual Studio Live Share will be available soon in a limited private preview, and you can ​check it out in action in the video below.

On top of Visual Studio Live Share, Microsoft had a number of other announcements for the developer crowd at Connect();. Of note are new Visual Studio tools for AI, which developers can now leverage to develop AI models within Visual Studio. Azure has also received some updates based around machine learning, AI, and more:

• Azure IoT Edge - Azure IoT Edge preview availability, enabling AI, advanced analytics and machine learning at the Internet of Things (IoT) edge.
• Azure Machine Learning updates - Integration with Azure IoT Edge and AI deployment on iOS devices with Core ML, bringing AI everywhere from the cloud to the IoT edge of devices.
• Azure Databricks - Designed in collaboration with the founders of Apache Spark, the preview of Azure Databricks is a fast, easy and collaborative Apache Spark-based analytics platform that delivers one-click setup, streamlined workflows and an interactive workspace. Native integration with Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Storage, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Active Directory and Power BI simplifies the creation of modern data warehouses that enable organizations to provide self-service analytics and machine learning over all data with enterprise-grade performance and governance.

For more, developers can check out Microsoft's full list of announcements from Connect();.

Microsoft has launched version 1.3 of Windows Template Studio, an update to the Visual Studio extension that brings improvements across the board.

With the latest update, Microsoft continues to make improvements to the wizard, as well as default Windows theme support for templates, and much more. Here's a look at all of what's new according to the release notes:

New Feature:

• Scheme to launch app (aka myAwesomeApp://myDeepLinksIntoMyApp?foo=bar)

Template improvements:

• Default Windows theme support added to template
• Files are now UTF-8 with BOM to make sure all cultures are supported
• Accessibility support in templates

Improvements to the Wizard:

• Accessibility support in Wizard drastically improved
• Lots of under the hood bug fixes and code improvements
• All needed parts for localization are built-in now (looks like we missed window to get actual localized files)
• Initial VB engine work was added in.
• Bug fixes

Process improvements:

• StyleCop enforcements across Template and Wizard code bases
• Appveyor added for pull requests to be sure we have proper continuous integration checks
• Required work for .NET Foundation

In future updates, Microsoft says to look forward to Fluent Design to arrive for templates, Visual Basic support, and much more.

Windows Template Studio is taking the place of Windows App Studio, a web-based tool for easily creating apps without the need for coding knowledge. Windows App Studio will be fully retired on December 1.

If you already have the Windows Template Studio extension installed in visual Studio, you should be able to update now. Otherwise, you can pick up Windows Template Studio at Microsoft now.

It's arriving a couple of months later than its Windows counterpart, but Visual Studio 2017 for Mac is now generally available. The Mac version of Microsoft's latest integrated development environment (IDE) has launched to the public after completing a lengthy preview period that kicked off in November.

Visual Studio 2017 for Mac includes the tools necessary to develop for multiple platforms in one environment. From Microsoft:

If you've been taking part in the Visual Studio 2017 for Mac public preview, you should be able to upgrade to the general release. New users can grab Visual Studio directly from Microsoft.

Microsoft is giving developers a way to check out new features coming to Visual Studio a little early with the new Visual Studio Preview. Initially spotted by WalkingCat on Twitter, Visual Studio Preview looks to offer developers a way to work with and provide feedback on changes to the IDE before they go live.

According to Microsoft's outline, Visual Studio Preview will frequently see new build releases with plenty of bug fixes in tow. The frequency of updates, however, could lead to "the occasional broken build." Thankfully, you can install the Preview side-by-side with the production version of Visual Studio.

It's important to note that this version of Visual Studio is "not supported in production environments." In other words, it's not licensed to build shipping apps, Microsoft says. For that, you'll need to use the release version. For more, you can read about Visual Studio Preview and give it a shot at its dedicated website.

Download Visual Studio Preview

Developers, the big day is here: Visual Studio 2017 has officially launched. The latest version of Visual Studio is now available for download, and there's a whole heck of a lot of new stuff to check out.

The full list of changes is absolutely massive, but some of the highlights include a brand-new installation experience, much speedier startup and load times, and new Git features in Team Explorer. Visual Studio 2017 also adds the ability for you to build your own extensions to customize the VS experience for yourself. For the full, detailed list of changes in Visual Studio 2017, be sure to check out the complete release notes.

Today not only marks the launch of Visual Studio 2017, but this year is the 20th anniversary of the original Visual Studio launch as well. To celebrate both occasions, Microsoft is holding a two-day launch event livestream that promises to be packed with new feature overviews and training sessions. That's going on right now, and you can tune in below.

Developers finally have a date to look forward to for the full launch of Visual Studio 2017: March 7. Microsoft announced the date in a new blog post that also celebrates the 20th anniversary of Visual Studio following its initial release in 1997.

Speaking on how it has evolved over the years, the team notes how Visual Studio has gradually spread from its humble beginnings to cover development across a wide variety of platforms

As for Visual Studio 2017, Microsoft says that it will be holding a two-day launch event in celebration, all of which will be live streamed. Over the course of the event, the team will go over everything that's new in Visual Studio, .NET, Xamarin, Azure, and more. There will also be live training sessions on March 8 as part of the live stream.

During its Connect developer conference, Microsoft took to the stage to officially announce both the Visual Studio 2017 Release Candidate and Visual Studio for Mac. Previously, Microsoft referred to Visual Studio 2017 simply as Visual Studio 15 while in preview mode. The new name and move to release candidate status signal that the update is fairly close to release.

As for what developers will find in the Visual Studio Release Candidate, there's a ton to look forward to — a lot of which is covered in the embedded video above. Of particular note is that Microsoft is making it easier to build and test mobile applications. Microsoft explains:

Aside from easier mobile development, Microsoft has made many more tweaks and additions that are meant to boost productivity, streamline cloud developments and more across the board. For a full look, be sure to check out Visual Studio 2017 RC's full release notes, which also show off a new installation experience. The release candidate is also available for download.

On top of Visual Studio 2017 RC, Microsoft also took the wraps off of Visual Studio for Mac. We previously caught wind that this was coming, but Microsoft has now made it official. As you might expect, Visual Studio for Mac combines what makes Microsoft's IDE great, but built to fit in with the MacOS environment. From Microsoft:

Visual Studio for Mac is now available as a preview, and can be downloaded now for developers to test.

Lastly, Microsoft took the wraps off of Visual Studio Mobile Center{.nofollow}, which the company calls "mission control for your mobile apps." Essentially, Mobile Center is a set of cloude services that let you easily track and manage various aspects of your mobile apps. You can get valuable telemetry, monitor for crashes and bugs, check out analytics and much more right from Mobile Center. Visual Studio Mobile Center is also available to try now as a preview.

If you're a developer interested in catching up with everything from Microsoft's Connect developer conference, be sure to follow along at the MSDN Connect page for all of the announcements.

Microsoft has released the fifth preview version of Visual Studio "15," the code name for the next edition of the company's development tools. This new build offers, among other things, a bunch of performance improvements.

The Visual Studio blog has the details on what exactly is included with the Visual Studio '15' preview, in terms of upgrading performance:

• Shorter solution load time with lightweight project load: Working on solutions that contain upwards of 100 projects doesn't mean you need to work with all the files or projects at a given time. VS "15" provides editing and debugging functionality without waiting for Visual Studio to load every project. You can try out this capability with managed projects in Preview 5 by turning on "Lightweight Solution Load" from Tools -> Options -> Projects and Solutions.
• Faster startup with on-demand loading of extensions: The idea is simple: load extensions when they're needed, rather than when VS starts. In Preview 5 we started this effort by moving our Python and Xamarin extensions to load on demand and are working on moving all extensions we ship with Visual Studio and extensions shipped by third party extension vendors to this model. Curious about which extensions impact startup, solution load, and typing performance? You can see this information in Help -> Manage Visual Studio Performance. Do you develop an extension? We will be publishing guidance to help extension developers move to on-demand loading.
• Moving subsystems from the main VS process to separatel processes: We moved some memory-intensive tasks such as Git Source Control, and our JavaScript and TypeScript language services to separate processes. This makes it less likely for you to experience delays caused by code running in the main Visual Studio process, or Visual Studio becoming sluggish and even crashing as the main process approaches the 4GB memory limit of 32-bit processes. We will continue to move components out-of-process in coming releases.
• Faster project load, coding, and debugging for C++: We have made loading C++ projects faster. Check out this video showing the improvement. You can enable this by setting "Enable Faster Project Load" to True from Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> C/C++ -> Experimental. We have also made improvements to our linker and PDB loading libraries to make incremental builds and launching the debugger much faster while significantly reducing memory consumption while debugging.
• Improved speed of Git source control operations by using git.exe: We have improved debugging performance by optimizing initialization and other costs related to IntelliTrace and the Diagnostic Tools window, and removed several delays that occur when editing and switching between XAML files.

There's plenty more that's new and improved in this release, and you can check out the full release notes for all the info. Since this is still unsupported software, Microsoft recommends that developers do not install this preview version on critical dev machines. Also, any previous preview versions of Visual Studio "15" should be uninstalled before grabbing Preview 5.

Download Visual Studio "15" Preview

Microsoft has released the fourth preview version of Visual Studio "15," the code name for the next edition of the company's development tools.

Microsoft says that most of the new Visual Studio preview is now running on the new install engine. That means developers should have a much smaller file size to download (less than 500MB):

You can check out the full release notes for Visual Studio "15" Preview 4 at Microsoft's site. It's important to note that the company recommends that developers do not install this preview version on critical dev machines. Also, any previous preview versions of Visual Studio "15" should be uninstalled before grabbing Preview 4.

Download Visual Studio "15" Preview 4 from Microsoft

Microsoft has released the third build to software developers for the preview version of Visual Studio '15', which is the code name for the next major release of its development tools.

In a blog post Microsoft stated:

Microsoft will likely release more preview versions of Visual Studio "15" before it is officially launched. This preview build should not be confused with the current version of the tools, Visual Studio 2015.

Download Visual Studio '15' preview from Microsoft

Microsoft has announced the Desktop to UWP Packaging Project for its upcoming Visual Studio "15" developer tools, which should make it easier to convert Windows desktop apps to Windows 10 UWP apps.

Microsoft has already released the Desktop App Converter Preview, also known as "Project Centennial", but today's announcement means that developers can build and test those converted desktop apps directly from within Visual Studio "15". Microsoft says:

Developers who want to try out the Desktop to UWP Packaging Project can do so with the current Windows 10 Insider preview build 14342. They will also have to install the Desktop App Converter Preview, Visual Studio "15" Preview 2 and the Desktop to UWP Packaging VSIX from the Visual Studio Gallery.

Microsoft's recent acquisition of Xamarin and its cross-platform app development tools is already paying off for developers. During Microsoft's Day 2 Build 2016 keynote address, the company said that the Xamarin tools will be available for free for all of its Visual Studio customers.

Access to the Xamarin tools will not only be available with the paid tiers of Visual Studio but also with Xamarin Studio for OS X as a free Community Edition. This shows that Microsoft wants to jump start cross-platform app creation across Windows 10, iOS and Android and could lead to a lot more apps for the Windows platform.

In addition, Microsoft also announced that the Xamarin runtime, SDK libraries and command line tools. will be released as an open source project. Again, this move will likely encourage more developers to use those tools to make apps that will work across platforms.

During Build 2016, Microsoft released the first public preview version of Visual Studio "15". That's the code name for the next major release of the company's popular application developer tools and is not to be confused with the currently supported version, Visual Studio 2015.

In a blog post, Microsoft says the preview version is officially unsupported, so developers should not install it "in a production environment." The preview version includes some new features:

• Open and edit any code from any folder
• Use pattern matching and local functions with new C# language features
• Use XAML "Edit and Continue" for Universal Windows 10 and WPF apps

In addition this preview release comes in two install options; the regular one and a new lightweight version.

Microsoft will likely release a number of preview versions of Visual Studio "15" before it is officially launched

Download Visual Studio '15' preview from Microsoft

Unreal Engine got a pretty big update today, giving developers all sort of new tools to work with when crafting their games. One of the more notable features of the 4.10 update, however, Unreal Engine has added Visual Studio 2015 support, allowing developers to work inside of the latest Visual Studio release on Windows. Here's a quick rundown on what's new in Unreal Engine 4.10, from the Unreal Engine blog:

And there you have it. It's a pretty nice update overall, but especially so for those using Visual Studio 2015. For the full description of each new addition, along with a quick primer on getting started with Unreal Engine in Visual Studio, check out the full post at the Unreal Engine blog below.

Source: Unreal; Thanks, Kyle S., for the tip!

Developers can now download Update 1 for Microsoft's Visual Studio 2015 software creation tools. The update, which has been in testing for some time, is packed with both big and small new features, along with improvements and bug fixes.

One of the big improvements centers on making apps for the universal Windows Platform, which supports Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft says:

More information on Update 1 has been posted on Microsoft's site. One small but interesting change is with the logo for the tools. It's been slightly changed so that developers can identify it quickly if they are working with more than one version of Visual Studio on their PC.

Source: Microsoft

As promised a few weeks ago, Microsoft has launched the final RTM version of its Visual Studio 2015 software creation tools to developers. The company will celebrate the release with an online launch event that starts at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time (8:30 a.m. Pacific time).

The release of these tools also means that developers can now finish up their Windows 10 apps so they can be uploaded and published into the store before Microsoft officially rolls out the OS starting on July 20.

The 2.5 hour online launch event will feature a number of online demos showing how developers can use Visual Studio 2015 to create applications for a number of different platforms. It will also feature Q&As with members of the Visual Studio team. The launch comes nine days before Microsoft begins the official rollout of Windows 10 to the general public on July 29.

Microsoft is offering three versions of Visual Studio 2015; the free Visual Studio Community SKU, the $1,199 Visual Studio Professional 2015 with MSDN, and the $5,999 Visual Studio Enterprise 2015 with MSDN.

Source: Visual Studio blog, Microsoft

During Build 2015 today, Microsoft announced the release of a new tool to help people easily build Minecraft mods in Visual Studio.

The tool is an add-on for Visual Studio that allows users to create their own mods from scratch or using one of three templates provided with the add-on. Importantly, the add-on isn't meant to replace current tools, but is instead meant to give developers extra options for creating their mods in Visual Studio's development environment.

The integration with Visual Studio comes roughly 5 months after Microsoft acquired the popular game franchise and its development studio, Mojang, for $2.5 billion. Since Minecraft is so popular among young gamers, one of the obvious perks of this integration is that Microsoft could use the game as a gateway to get children interested in coding at an early age.

If you're a developer and Minecraft fan interested in trying out the new Visual Studio add-in, you can hit up the source link below to learn how to get started.

Source: Microsoft

During today's Build 2015 keynote address, Microsoft revealed a new developer app called Visual Studio Code. This is a free and lightweight version of the company's Visual Studio tools but can run natively on OS X and Ubuntu as well as Windows.

This is a major announcement for software developers as it will allow those creators that use OS X or Ubuntu some Visual Studio tools on that OS for the first time. It will be released for free sometime later today and is basically a new member of the Visual Studio family

Stay tuned as we will have more news from the Build 2015 keynote throughout the day

Microsoft has announced it has reached agreements to offer easier access to its Visual Studio development tools for three major game engines: Unreal, Unity and Cocos2d.

Microsoft stated:

Microsoft has already announced that the latest versions of the Unity and Unreal engines will support the company's DirectX 12 game graphics API for the launch of Windows 10 later in 2015.

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft is planning to offer software developers just three versions of its upcoming Visual Studio 2015 tools, versus four versions for the current 2013 edition.

While the free Visual Studio Community version will be available in the 2015 edition, along with the $1,199 Visual Studio Professional 2015 with MSDN. Microsoft is combining the Visual Studio Premium and Visual Studio Ultimate SDKs into the new Visual Studio Enterprise with MSDN for the 2015 launch. Microsoft says "It includes all the high value features you're already familiar with in Visual Studio Ultimate, along with new innovation that's coming with the 2015 release."

Microsoft will price the new Visual Studio Enterprise 2015 with MSDN, which is offered to large development teams, for $5,999. Microsoft says:

Developers can currently download a preview version of Visual Studio 2015 to test out before the final version is released later this year.

Source: Microsoft

At the Connect() event in New York City, Xamarin extended their partnership with Microsoft and announced a new set of offers for developers. Xamarin enables development of cross-platform mobile applications targeting phones, tablets, and embedded devices running on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows.

Connect(), a developer event hosted by Microsoft outlining the company's next steps with their developer tools and application platforms, was branded as a cloud-first, mobile-first, developer-first, virtual event. At the event, Nat Friedman, CEO, Xamarin and Miguel de Icaza, CTO, Xamarin joined Microsoft executives on stage and talked about their partnership.

The company executives shared that after launching the partnership with Microsoft one year ago, they've reached over 20,000 companies with Xamarin's platform. Taking the partnership to the next level, the company announced a free Xamarin Starter Edition for Visual Studio users. Earlier in the event, Microsoft announced a new, free edition of Visual Studio —Visual Studio Community – and the freely available Xamarin Starter Edition will work with Visual Studio Community. Also, the size limit on apps that can be created with Xamarin Starter Edition has been doubled allowing developers to build even more capable apps for free.

Xamarin also announced support for the Visual Studio 2015 Preview release. The preview version includes Xamarin templates that make it easier to discover and download Xamarin from within the IDE. Also, Microsoft is now including templates for building iOS and Android apps with Xamarin directly in Visual Studio 2015.

To round off the announcements, the company shared that they've worked with Microsoft to create a special offer for MSDN Subscribers. Visual Studio Premium and Ultimate MSDN subscribers can avail a 20% discount to purchase Xamarin Business or Enterprise Editions, or mobile development training with Xamarin University, available up to 60 days after the Visual Studio Purchase.

If you are an app developer and have been thinking of trying out Xamarin, this is a pretty good deal. Also, the friendly folks at Xamarin have asked developers to write to them to extend their expired trial period to another 30 days to explore the new features.

Source: Xamarin