Now that we went over what Test Base is and how it works, let me explain why I believe this service has all the potential to become huge! No need anymore to look like this guy! (Image generated with Microsoft Designer)
The current state
While economic markets are tough currently, not all companies currently have the budget or resources to go through a major “big bang” migration project. Test Base can really help out here, certainly at the cost of $8/hour it’s a great option to test your critical applications and get the data you need to gradually start rolling out Windows 11. At the same time, when one of your apps is not Windows 11 compatible for some reason, you have the Microsoft App Assure team on your side to overcome the hurdles.
There are still some limitations today, but the service keeps improving all the time!
Potential Integrations
One integration that is already there is the integration with Intune, and that integration is likely to even become better over time. But let’s bring another product into the mix here: Windows Autopatch.
Wouldn’t it be great to have the confidence that when Test Base discovers an issue with one of your business critical applications when combined with the latest Windows security updates, that it would for example automatically hit the pause button and notify you before there is an actual impact?
Even better would be if Autopatch could use the Test Base signals and Intune data to only pause updates for devices that have the affected application installed.
If you like this thought, then good news because I have already submitted the feature request to the Autopatch team! 🙂
What about another integration? Azure AD.
Currently the tests are run on non-domain joined Azure VM’s in the Microsoft tenant. But what if you could spin up those VM’s in your own Azure AD tenant and use your own custom image? It would allow for some other use cases for Test Base:
- Testing new application versions
Automatically getting new versions of your applications tested for compatibility with your custom image before deploying them through Intune. - Mergers and acquisitions
Coming from an application packager background and having done multiple M&A projects, getting all the applications from the newly acquired business tested against our image and OS configurations typically meant temporarily expanding the team. If Test Base would support Azure AD + custom OS image, it would greatly reduce the effort and time!
Conclusion
As the Test Base service keeps evolving, and if Microsoft can link it up further with Intune, Azure AD and Windows Autopatch, I really see Test Base becoming a very important link in the chain to improve operational stability and reduce downtime related to lack of proper testing.
With IT skills being high in demand and there being more jobs than people to fill them, automation is a necessity, and Test Base definitely has the potential to become THE automated testing platform a lot of us have been looking for for a long time!