Microsoft reinvents Visual Studio as an Azure cloud service

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author:

Microsoft definitely doesn’t want developers to eschew its cloud, that’s for sure. Redmond’s latest additions to its arsenal of cloud-based resources are aimed squarely at developers, and while a new version of Visual Studio (2013) is part of that mix, there’s an entirely new offering: Visual Studio Online. Formerly branded as Team Foundation Service, Visual Studio Online is a Windows Azure-hosted development environment designed to work as an online complement to Visual Studio’s desktop tools.

Most of the features offered through Visual Studio Online ought to be familiar territory, both for Microsoft and non-Microsoft developers. The hosted source control system, for instance, works with Microsoft’s Team Foundation Version Control system, but will operate transparently with Git as well — a nice tip of the hat to those who already have projects managed with Git and don’t feel like scrapping it in favor of a Microsoft solution. Likewise, Visual Studio is the preferred software client for working with projects hosted in Visual Studio Online, but Eclipse and Xcode are supported too…

Other features show off all the more how this is meant to be a cloud-based development tool, not just a hosted repository. Microsoft is offering a hosted build service, where projects can be built in the cloud and the results delivered back to the desktop in Visual Studio, and 60 minutes of build time free each month, with more available depending on your subscription level…

Read more from the source @ http://www.infoworld.com/t/cloud-computing/microsoft-reinvents-visual-studio-azure-cloud-service-230813