Visual Studio Online Supports True Cross-Platform Development

This post introduces Visual Studio Online (VSO) as a platform supporting cross-platform development, highlighting its capabilities for non-traditional Microsoft developers. It details the integration of Git repositories, including unlimited private Git repositories hosted in the cloud, and the ability to connect existing Git repositories and tools. The post also covers cloud-hosted code reviews with inline comments and individual sign-offs, traceability between source code and work items using agile planning and bug tracking tools, and continuous integration (CI) builds triggered by commits and code reviews. It mentions the open-source VSO build agent written in Node.js that runs on various operating systems and supports building languages like Xcode, C++, and Java. Furthermore, it discusses seamless integration with existing tools using service hooks and REST APIs, and the Team Explorer Everywhere (TEE) plug-in for Eclipse. Specific features mentioned include Xcode and other Git tools connecting to VSO Git repositories, editing source files and committing directly from the browser, and automatic building, testing, and deployment of backend web services.