After diving deep into Visual Studio 2026 Insider Preview for three weeks, I've got some thoughts. And by thoughts, I mean a rollercoaster of emotions ranging from "finally!" to "what were they thinking?!"
Let's break it down! 👇
✅ The Good: Microsoft Actually Listened
AI That Doesn't Want to Kill You
Remember when AI assistants felt like that coworker who gives advice but never actually helps? VS 2026's "DevCompanion" is different.
It actually understands your entire codebase, not just the file you're staring at. I asked it "Why is my authentication broken?" and it immediately spotted an issue in my middleware that I'd overlooked for hours.
// It caught this subtle bug I missed
app.use(authMiddleware); // 🚨 Should be before routes!
app.use('/api', apiRoutes);
Performance That Slaps
- 2GB solution loading time: 3.7 seconds (previously: coffee break duration)
- New "Lazy Intellisense" only loads what you need
- Finally feels responsive on large codebases
Git Integration 2.0
The visual merge conflict resolver is chef's kiss 👌
Side-by-side comparison + AI-powered conflict detection + learning from your merge preferences = actually enjoyable git workflow.
❌ The Bad: Some Things Never Change
RAM Hungry Beast
VS 2026 still thinks RAM grows on trees:
- 8.2GB for a medium project
- My 32GB machine is sweating
- Chrome with 47 tabs uses less (yes, I counted)
Extension Apocalypse
The new plugin architecture broke half my workflow:
- ReSharper: Unstable mess
- Live Share: Random crashes
- Migration guide: Hieroglyphs level documentation
Debugging the Debugger
"Smart Debugging" sometimes decides your breakpoints are "irrelevant" and ignores them. Nothing like debugging your debugging tools while debugging your code. 🤪
🤯 The WTF Moments
Social Coding (???)
VS 2026 now has:
- Chat system (because Slack wasn't enough?)
- Developer status updates ("Jake is struggling with async/await")
- Code Karma points (I got 50 points for naming conventions!)
I can't even... 🤦♂️
🤖 AI Code Review Bot
An AI that reviews your commits and leaves pedantic comments:
"Consider using a more descriptive variable name than 'data'. Suggestion: 'userAuthenticationResponseDataObject'"
Thanks, robot. Very helpful. 🙄
Theme Overload
47 themes. Including:
- "Nostalgic Terminal Green"
- "Millennial Pink"
- "Cyberpunk Hacker" (retina damage included)
Someone prioritized this over fixing the debugger. Let that sink in.
🤔 Should You Try It?
✅ Install if:
- You're curious about the future of IDEs
- You have solid backups
- You enjoy living dangerously
❌ Skip if:
- You have tight deadlines
- You value stability over shiny features
- You're already happy with VS 2022
It's Microsoft experimenting with the future of development. Some ideas are brilliant (AI assistance, performance), others feel like committee-designed chaos (social features, gamification).
My Rating: 7/10 - Promising but needs less social media, more stability.
Quick Stats After 3 Weeks:
| Feature | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AI Assistant | 9/10 | Actually useful |
| Performance | 8/10 | Finally fast |
| Memory Usage | 4/10 | Still a beast |
| Extensions | 5/10 | Compatibility nightmare |
| Social Features | 2/10 | Nobody asked for this |
What's your take? Anyone else brave enough to try VS 2026 Insider?
Drop your experiences in the comments! And yes, I still use vim for quick edits. Fight me. ⚔️
P.S. - If you found this helpful, give it a ❤️ and follow for more honest dev tool reviews that your productivity apps don't want you to read!
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