Microsoft signs eviction notice on Dev Home
(2025/01/29)
- Reference: 1738142771
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/01/29/microsoft_dev_home_discontinued/
- Source link:
Microsoft is killing off its unloved Dev Home control center after the app spent less than two years in preview.
The control center for developers was open source, which meant that eagle-eyed users could spot Microsoft's decision to cut the project ahead of a formal announcement from the Windows giant.
Posting on X, Rafael Rivera [1]wrote : "Microsoft Dev Home app/platform is dead. EOL is set for May 2025," alongside a change showing a message reading: "Dev Home will be going away in May 2025 and a subset of its features will be moved to new places. Stay tuned for more information in the coming months."
[2]
It's not as if Microsoft lavished much attention on the control center during its brief life. Just over a year ago, Tim Anderson of sister publication DevClass [3]wondered if Dev Home was little more than fluff or whether it might evolve into something useful. Microsoft's decision to discontinue Dev Home suggests it leaned toward the former rather than the latter.
[4]
[5]
The response on [6]social media has been the digital equivalent of a shrug. It isn't the first time Microsoft rolled out a preview, only to rapidly become bored of it and move on, and it won't be the last.
[7]Cloud market working well... if you're AWS and Microsoft
[8]Microsoft admits January's Windows Update broke USB Digital to Audio Convertor
[9]Microsoft builds open source document database on PostgreSQL, suggests FerretDB as front end
[10]Microsoft's London 'Experience Center' packs up and goes home
The demise of Dev Home also speaks of a deeper malaise within Microsoft when it comes to professional developers. There was nothing in the platform that developers couldn't do elsewhere. Instead, the widgets and gizmos within the tool integrated with GitHub, configured WinGet, set up Dev Drives, and more. However, these features were often regarded as little more than clutter, impeding rather than assisting a pro's workflow.
Dev Home was handy as a place for shortcuts for developers new to the environment, but provided little benefit for more experienced users.
Instead of Dev Home, Microsoft could have focused on making Windows more appealing to developers as an operating system to work on and work with. Rather than addressing the clutter, Microsoft decided to create Dev Home. It could have been worse – the company might have introduced yet another development framework.
[11]
Now Microsoft appears to have realized that Dev Home probably wasn't such a good idea after all. And if the company itself couldn't be bothered to support it, why should the developers it was aimed at?
We asked Microsoft what its plans for a post-Dev Home future might entail. The company did not respond. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://x.com/WithinRafael/status/1883989054800420955
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z5oKVHDoPoLikXTPFZJj6QAAAYU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://devclass.com/2024/06/05/microsoft-windows-dev-home-fluff-or-evolving-into-something-useful/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z5oKVHDoPoLikXTPFZJj6QAAAYU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z5oKVHDoPoLikXTPFZJj6QAAAYU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/1ibln4h/dev_home_is_being_discontinued_in_may_2025/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/microsoft_and_aws_cma_provisional_findings/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/microsoft_admits_to_usb_digital/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/27/microsoft_builds_open_source_document/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/27/microsoft_oxford_circus_closing/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z5oKVHDoPoLikXTPFZJj6QAAAYU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The control center for developers was open source, which meant that eagle-eyed users could spot Microsoft's decision to cut the project ahead of a formal announcement from the Windows giant.
Posting on X, Rafael Rivera [1]wrote : "Microsoft Dev Home app/platform is dead. EOL is set for May 2025," alongside a change showing a message reading: "Dev Home will be going away in May 2025 and a subset of its features will be moved to new places. Stay tuned for more information in the coming months."
[2]
It's not as if Microsoft lavished much attention on the control center during its brief life. Just over a year ago, Tim Anderson of sister publication DevClass [3]wondered if Dev Home was little more than fluff or whether it might evolve into something useful. Microsoft's decision to discontinue Dev Home suggests it leaned toward the former rather than the latter.
[4]
[5]
The response on [6]social media has been the digital equivalent of a shrug. It isn't the first time Microsoft rolled out a preview, only to rapidly become bored of it and move on, and it won't be the last.
[7]Cloud market working well... if you're AWS and Microsoft
[8]Microsoft admits January's Windows Update broke USB Digital to Audio Convertor
[9]Microsoft builds open source document database on PostgreSQL, suggests FerretDB as front end
[10]Microsoft's London 'Experience Center' packs up and goes home
The demise of Dev Home also speaks of a deeper malaise within Microsoft when it comes to professional developers. There was nothing in the platform that developers couldn't do elsewhere. Instead, the widgets and gizmos within the tool integrated with GitHub, configured WinGet, set up Dev Drives, and more. However, these features were often regarded as little more than clutter, impeding rather than assisting a pro's workflow.
Dev Home was handy as a place for shortcuts for developers new to the environment, but provided little benefit for more experienced users.
Instead of Dev Home, Microsoft could have focused on making Windows more appealing to developers as an operating system to work on and work with. Rather than addressing the clutter, Microsoft decided to create Dev Home. It could have been worse – the company might have introduced yet another development framework.
[11]
Now Microsoft appears to have realized that Dev Home probably wasn't such a good idea after all. And if the company itself couldn't be bothered to support it, why should the developers it was aimed at?
We asked Microsoft what its plans for a post-Dev Home future might entail. The company did not respond. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://x.com/WithinRafael/status/1883989054800420955
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z5oKVHDoPoLikXTPFZJj6QAAAYU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://devclass.com/2024/06/05/microsoft-windows-dev-home-fluff-or-evolving-into-something-useful/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z5oKVHDoPoLikXTPFZJj6QAAAYU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z5oKVHDoPoLikXTPFZJj6QAAAYU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/1ibln4h/dev_home_is_being_discontinued_in_may_2025/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/microsoft_and_aws_cma_provisional_findings/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/microsoft_admits_to_usb_digital/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/27/microsoft_builds_open_source_document/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/27/microsoft_oxford_circus_closing/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z5oKVHDoPoLikXTPFZJj6QAAAYU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Standard operating procedure
Anonymous Coward
Perhaps they are trying to catch up with Google in the 'cancelled projects' stakes?
I do remember that the 'Dev Home' icon kept annoyingly appearing on machines without being invited. Given that most Windows users aren't developers, this was spectacularly pointless.
Standard operating procedure
This is so typical of Microsoft.
Create new thing.
Get developers using it.
Pull the rug out from under them.
Repeat.
If we re-wrote our applications every time Microsoft deprecated a framework, API or tool that they rely on, we'd never have the time to write anything new.