New Dev Home tool in Windows

Microsoft launched the Dev Home tool during the Microsoft Build event. Although it is still in the preview phase, its objective is to provide a complete working environment for Windows programmers. Below we will see the different functionalities. We can try and how we can take advantage of this tool.

To start, we must install Dev Home on our computers, which is very easy; open Microsoft Store and search for "Dev Home" (Official link Dev Home (Preview) - Microsoft Store Apps). Select the option "Get" or "Install". With this, the tool will be installed; it does not take up much space, so the installation should not take long. After installing, you can click on Open to use the application.

When we open the tool, we will see the interface that will show us the most important options: the "Dashboard" and the "Machine Configuration". These are the two fundamental options available to us. Next, let's review each one of them.

At the bottom of the Machine configuration, we find the "Install Application" option, which allows us to quickly install all the tools we normally use for programming, such as Android Studio, Visual Studio Code, Git, Visual Studio Code, and Visual Studio Community, among others. This feature greatly facilitates the creation of our development environment by allowing us to install the tools we need quickly.

In addition, we have the option to "Clone a repository". By selecting it, we will be presented with a window where we can clone a specific repository. It is important to mention that we can also add repositories directly by URL or link our GitHub account, this speeds up the work process.

When adding a repository, we will be shown the "Next" option, and then we can accept the terms and conditions. In addition, we can specify the path where we want to clone the repository.

Once the repository is cloned, we can go to the "Dashboard" to see the associated information. At this time, we do not have any widgets in the Dashboard, as it does not come with a default configuration. Therefore, we must add our widgets.

For example, we can see information about the computer in the "Core" section, such as the keys, memory, network, and CPU used. Selecting an option, such as memory, will show us how much total memory there is and how much is occupied. This allows us to monitor performance and look for ways to improve it while programming. We also have the option to display the CPU usage percentage, similar to the memory option.

In addition, the tool shows us the different options associated with Git, although currently, only GitHub and GitHub Enterprise are supported. Other integrations, such as Azure DevOps, may be available in the future. We can view the Pull Requests of a selected repository and open them in the browser to analyze the code and make decisions.

We can also add additional accounts and change the theme and extensions according to our preferences. The tool is a suite that can be extended by adding more extensions.

It is important to note that the tool is in preview status and still has limitations. It would be interesting to be able to see a list of all repositories and have an overview of pending changes in each of them. Also, it would be beneficial to have support for other tools beyond Git, such as Azure. Overall, Dev Home has great potential and offers many interesting features for the future.