MindByte Issue #103: GitHub Copilot Goes Free, Azure Cost Tips, and .NET Cleanup

Author

Michiel van Oudheusden
December 24, 2024

In partnership with

Season’s Greetings, tech enthusiasts!

To all the new subscribers—welcome aboard! 🎄 As we approach Christmas, I’d like to thank you for being part of this growing community. Whether you’re relaxing or catching up on the latest in tech during the holidays, I hope this edition brings you valuable insights and inspiration.

This week, we’re diving into some exciting updates:

  • GitHub Copilot now free in VS Code (with some limitations)

  • Extensions to enhance Copilot for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

  • Improved secret scanning alerts to tackle vulnerabilities faster

  • Azure pricing insights: Avoid costly mistakes with Functions

  • Tips for managing .NET versions and exploring the new TUnit framework

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a joyful holiday season! 🎅 Let’s dive in and unwrap this week’s updates.

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated. Let's dive in.

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GitHub Digest

A big announcement by GitHub; Copilot in VS Code is now free!

Of course, there are some limitations, but still, a great move to use Claude 3.5 Sonnet or OpenAI’s GPT-4o model in Visual Studio Code for free.

BTW, are you a student, educator, or work on large open source projects, then you can apply for a free Copilot Pro account.

Announcing 150M developers and a new free tier for GitHub Copilot in VS Code

Come and join 150M developers on GitHub that can now code with Copilot for free in VS Code.

github.blog/news-insights/product-news/github-copilot-in-vscode-free

Extensions are a great way to add additional knowledge to Copilot. With this AKS plugin, you can ask questions about Azure Kubernetes Services. Like creating a cluster to execute commands via kubectl.

Use AKS plugins for GitHub Copilot for Azure - Azure Kubernetes Service

Learn how to use AKS plugins in GitHub Copilot for Azure to enhance your day-to-day experience in Azure Kubernetes Service

learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/aks-extension-ghcopilot-plugins

Secret scanning alerts are a great way to quickly act on vulnerabilities. With labels like public leak or multi-repository you can easily identify what you need to tackle first.

The improvements in the filters will make you live easier.

Improved filtering for secret scanning alerts · GitHub Changelog

Improved filtering for secret scanning alerts

github.blog/changelog/2024-12-17-improved-filtering-for-secret-scanning-alerts

Want to run your workflow on Windows Server 2025, then this is your chance. With the new label windows-2025 you can switch to this new Windows version.

Keep in mind that there is other software installed, so your tools and versions might not be there compared to earlier windows images.

Windows Server 2025 is now in public preview · GitHub Changelog

Windows Server 2025 is now in public preview

github.blog/changelog/2024-12-19-windows-server-2025-is-now-in-public-preview

When you are a GitHub Enterprise Cloud admin, you can now get REST API insights. You get details like the number of requests and the different apps accessing your account.

REST API insights for organizations is now generally available · GitHub Changelog

REST API insights for organizations is now generally available

github.blog/changelog/2024-12-20-rest-api-insights-for-organizations-is-now-generally-available

Coding Corner

A couple of editions ago, I shared an article about a VS Code extension that was used to hack your machine.

But the problem is still there; how can you check if a VS Code extension is real or when it is cake?

VSCode Extension Trivia: Real or Cake?

It’s me again. It has been a few months since the latest blog post that went quite viral — “How We Hacked Multi-Billion Dollar Companies…

medium.com/@amitassaraf/vscode-extension-trivia-real-or-cake-f729adc9e03e

Azure Updates & Insights

An interesting FinOps read; Azure Functions looks like a cheap way to serve functionality. But when you switch to the Premium plan, you also start paying premium prices.

Services like Azure Container Apps or the new Azure Functions Flex Consumption plan might be a cheaper alternative.

My $8,000 Serverless Mistake - Kevin W. Griffin

I made an $8,000 mistake with Azure Functions, and it taught me some valuable lessons about serverless architecture. I’ve always loved Azure Functions for their affordability, simplicity, and ability to scale with demand, making them perfect for handling background tasks like processing queues. But I learned the hard way that scaling can spiral out of control, especially when using Elastic Premium instances with constant back pressure. What started as a cost-effective solution ballooned into a costly oversight as Azure ramped up resources to handle the load. After this experience, I realized not every problem is a serverless problem and shifted memory-intensive tasks to Azure Container Apps, which provided better control over resources. It’s a painful but important reminder to understand cloud scaling and pricing before letting workloads run wild.

consultwithgriff.com/my-8000-serverless-mistake

.NET Nook

It is great to see new .NET versions being released. You get performance improvements, new features, better security etc. But also a new set of files on your system, taking up precious disk space.

So when frameworks are no longer supported, you can clean them to claim some disk space. In the next article, you find some different options on how to manage your .NET versions.

Five Effective Strategies for Managing .NET Versions

With a new .NET version released each year, an LTS version every three years, and regular patches, you likely have multiple .NET SDK versions installed on your computer. Some may need updating, while others should be removed because they are no longer supported. In this article, we will explore 5 effective ways to manage your .NET SDK versions.

techwatching.dev/posts/manage-dotnet-versions

So a new kid of the block; TUnit. What is wrong with the existing frameworks like Nunit, XUnit etc that we need another testing framework for .NET?

If you want to know why and how you should use this library, then read on.

Meet TUnit: The New, Fast, and Extensible .NET Testing Framework

This post introduces TUnit, a new testing framework for .NET 8 and later, and shows off its incredible speed and amazing features!

stenbrinke.nl/blog/tunit-introduction

Closing Thoughts

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