Microsoft Azure DevOps: What You Need to Know

If you've been in the Microsoft developer space for even a minute, you know that they are undeniably all about Azure and DevOps. And if you hadn't realized that, today's announcement introducing Azure DevOps should have solidified it for you.

You may have seen Microsoft's announcement of Azure DevOps this morning. If you didn't, you should really check it out. Let's explore what this means for you, the Microsoft developer.

What is Azure DevOps and Why Should You Care?

In the simplest terms, Azure DevOps is the evolution of VSTS (Visual Studio Team Services). It is the result of years of using their own tools and developing a process for building and delivering products in an efficient and effective way. If you want to learn more about their cloud and DevOps journey, check out their DevOps Resource Center and particularly Lori Lamkin's article entitled Moving to Cloud Cadence.

But it's more than that, too. I think of it as VSTS, TFS (Team Foundation Server) and Azure all rolled up into one, with some improvements and a few extras. With Azure DevOps you get Azure Boards, Azure Repos, Azure Pipelines, Azure Test Plans and Azure Artifacts.

Probably one of the more significant "extras" was the introduction of Azure Pipelines. With Azure Pipelines, you get cloud-hosted pipelines for Linux, Windows and macOS. You can build, test and deploy any language or platform to any cloud. What's more, every OSS project will get Azure Pipelines unlimited build minutes. When they say this isn't your grandpa's Microsoft, they aren't kidding.

Also, announced (and fairly significant) is the new VS Code GitHub Pull Request Extension in the Azure Repos. The PR extension enables collaborative pull requests in VS Code.

Azure DevOps, Telerik and Kendo UI

Progress has a long history with Microsoft - particularly when it comes to our Telerik tools. We have supported VSTS and TFS integration with Telerik Test Studio and are evaluating Azure DevOps compatibility. You can always reference our current documentation for information about our VSTS and TFS integration and we will provide an update on Azure DevOps in the near future.

Along the lines of integration, it bears mentioning that the Telerik and Kendo UI components and controls are Azure infused. We have a host of articles and documentation to guide you through a number of scenarios, including:

• How to Store Your Database in Azure and Display it in Your WinForms App
• How to Store Your App Unstructured Data in Azure
• How to Use the Azure Cognitive Services Computer Vision API
• How to Build a ChatBot with Azure and Telerik

As you can see, we love talking about Azure, and we have plenty more to say, but we'll save that for a different blog post. 😊

Learn More about Azure DevOps

There are a lot of ways to learn more about Azure DevOps - here are a few of our recommended events and resources to get you started.

Keynotes and Workshops

You can tune in to the Azure DevOps Keynote with Jamie Cool, Donovan Brown and special guests on Tuesday, September 11th at 8 a.m. PT on Ch. 9. Also, plan to join the Azure DevOps "Six Hour Mixer Workshop + Q&A" that Jeff Fritz on his Mixer and Twitch channels on Monday, September 17 from 8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. PT. You can save-the-date and watch both live streams on the events page. There you’ll also find additional on-demand videos and other resources to help get you started.

.NET Conf

If .NET Conf was not on your calendar, it should be. It kicks off on Sept 12 and there is a session at 2:00 p.m. PT on the 13th called "DevOps for .NET Teams with VSTS" (although the title may change after today's announcement 😊). The conference is a free three-day online event. You can learn more about how to tune in here.

Our Partners

Some of our partners have announcements and information to share as well. Make sure you check out blog posts from Mobilize.net and PreEmptive Solutions. Both organizations have a history deeply rooted in the Microsoft space and provide interesting perspectives on the news announced today. Mobilize is releasing VBUC 8.1 with Azure DevOps integration, and PreEmptive is announcing Azure DevOps compatibility with Dotfuscator (both the free community edition and the full version). Make sure you check out their blog posts for more details.