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Two days after the general availability of Visual Studio 2019 for Windows and Mac, Microsoft will make Visual Studio Code available on Linux as Snap. This version has been available for Windows, Linux and Mac since 2016 and now benefits from Snap support for seamless automatic updates.

Microsoft released Visual Studio 2019 earlier this week for both Windows and Mac users. The latest version of Visual Studio includes an artificial intelligence (AI) assisted code supplement with Visual Studio IntelliCode and the real-time collaboration tool Visual Studio Live Share.

Today, Visual Studio Code is in the foreground because it gets official Snap integration from Microsoft. Snaps, developed by Canonical, are container software packages that work native to most popular Linux distributions. They include automatic updates, rollback functionality, enhanced security and more flexibility for developers. Snaps work universally over more than 40 Linux distribution variants. With Snap integration, Microsoft will spend less time packing and managing builds across different Linux versions.

Growing community

If you have the reflex that Visual Studio Code is already available as Snap, we have to agree. The Ubuntu community developed a version two years ago. The new Visual Studio Code Snap is now officially supported and built by Microsoft.

João Moreno, Visual Studio Code engineer, informs Venturebeat that the automatic update functionality of a Snap is a big advantage. It is clear that there is a thriving community around Snaps that is growing very fast. Canonical’s support ensures security and continuous development.

With Snap, Canonical has gained extensive acceptance across various Linux distributions since it became more widely available in 2016. Amazon, Google and Slack have all adapted their packaging format for their Linux software. Now you can also add Microsoft to that list.

You can download the Snap version of Visual Studio Code here. Do you prefer to work with the beta version as an Insider? Then you can go here.

Related: Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 gets AI

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.