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Visual Studio Code Server untethers developers from their workstations

(2022/07/08)


Microsoft has tossed its hat into the increasingly crowded ring of code-anywhere developer tools with a private preview of Visual Studio Code Server.

The [1]product follows the Remote Development extensions for Visual Studio Code, which permitted apps to be developed using a local copy of the IDE and a "remote" Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Running on machines managed over SSH followed a year later and most recently [2]GitHub Codespaces and [3]Visual Studio Code for the Web turned up.

[4]

While the latter two require surrender to the tender mercies of Microsoft or its code-shack GitHub, the release of Visual Studio Code Server (the backend service that makes the magic happen) means that you can pop the server on your developer workstation (or Virtual Machine in the cloud) and run it through the browser using Visual Studio Code for the Web without faffing around with SSH or HTTPS, "although you can do that if you want as well," Microsoft added.

[5]

[6]

It opens up the possibility of using a browser on a machine that does not enjoy native Visual Studio Code support, connected to a machine running Visual Studio Code Server.

[7]Visual Studio adds ability to edit code in All-in-One Search

[8]Trying and failing to update Visual Studio? You aren't alone

[9]Preview 9 of Visual Studio for Mac is out as GA approaches

[10]Microsoft Visual Studio: Cluttering up developer disks for 25 years

But there are limitations. The private preview is fired up using code-server . Need something more (like installing extensions) and you'll need to fall back to the code CLI. You'll also be asked to accept the terms of a license agreement which permits Microsoft to receive telemetry data, but those using tools from Redmond likely know what they are signing up for.

There are also plenty of alternatives out there. [11]Gitpod's OpenVSCode Server springs to mind, as does [12]Coder's code-server (now up to version 4.5 ).

Overall, the private preview of Visual Studio Code Server is welcome, if a long time coming. It's also a little symptomatic of Microsoft's scatter-gun approach to developers as it seeks to leverage the esteem in which Visual Studio Code is held.

[13]

We now await the inevitable rebrand. Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (a quite different product) was renamed to Azure DevOps Server after all. It can only be a matter of time before something is plucked out of the ether for what looks like a very handy developer tool. ®

Get our [14]Tech Resources



[1] https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2022/07/07/vscode-server

[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/12/github_codespaces/

[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/01/microsoft_previews_free_visual_studio/

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YsipBzw5k5PiNgfP3MNhxgAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YsipBzw5k5PiNgfP3MNhxgAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YsipBzw5k5PiNgfP3MNhxgAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/28/visual_studio_search_edit/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/11/visual_studio_bork/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/13/vs_2022_mac/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/18/visual_studio_turns_25/

[11] https://www.gitpod.io/blog/openvscode-server-launch

[12] https://github.com/coder/code-server

[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YsipBzw5k5PiNgfP3MNhxgAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/



badflorist

"...esteem in which Visual Studio Code is held."

I'm tired of reading about the underexposed and inexperienced.

Microsoft brainwashes kids to promote products. In time, that 60 billion dollar game publisher will have editors writing how advanced and customizable Windows 11 is.

Is there still a difference between the words "editor" and "influencer"?

Dan 55

Can't say I ever saw anyone raving about Atom, [1]which VCS is based on , but as soon as you stick MS' name on it it's suddenly fantastic.

[1] https://thenextweb.com/news/microsofts-cross-platform-visual-studio-code-app-is-based-on-githubs-atom-editor

J.Teodor

Maybe because Atom was sluggish as heck, the project lacked direction and plugin ecosystem was... not there?

I barely use VCS - I actually don't like it all that much and find the UI very unintuitive, I only use it to edit documentation, as $work requires specific set of linters and such for .md - but compared to Atom...

Also, is there really a such thing as MS fanboy? I use a metric b*tt-ton of MS stuff - it just works, it is not glowingly innovative or something for praising blog posts, so for me, it is feels like it would be a fanboy of "I cannot believe it isn't butter!"

But then again, I am old and jaded. I actually discovered recently there are fanbois [sp] of Elon Musk, and here I was thinking he is white cat short of Bond villain...

RE: Musk as a Bond Villain

Swarthy

I liked Musk better when he was practically a Bond Villain. However, he has slid into Billionaire Dementia, and makes most of the Bond villains (Including Dr. Evil) look personable, competent, and rational.

Comparing Elon to Bond villains is a disservice to Ian Fleming's works.

Re: RE: Musk as a Bond Villain

J.Teodor

You are right. Sorry. I will from now on only refer to him as "wannabe Bond villain".

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