Visual Studio 2026

Intro

I'm Peter and this is the RoguePlanetoid Podcast where you will find insights about Microsoft or related platforms and technology, along with so much more whether you are beginner or an experienced professional or just interested in technology. Keep Current, Keep Coding!

Welcome

Welcome to episode thirty-three of the RoguePlanetoid Podcast about Visual Studio 2026. Visual Studio 2026 is latest, smartest and fastest version of the world's most popular integrated development environment. Visual Studio 2026 is now faster and more intuitive, supporting developers to stay in the flow with the tools they rely on, along with bringing their ideas to life whether exploring something new or scaling existing solutions. Visual Studio 2026 is available with the release of .NET 10 or can be previewed and for any upcoming features in the future, with Visual Studio Insiders. To download the latest version of Visual Studio then visit visualstudio.com or check out the link in the show notes.

Overview

Visual Studio 2026 marks one of the most ambitious releases that Microsoft has taken with the world's most popular IDE, or integrated development environment that features improved performance from first launch, with faster loading and lighter handling of large solutions, which helps to shrink the gap between idea and app across x64 and Arm64. Visual Studio 2026 features a cleaner and modern feel with Fluent Design, including updated icons and subtle user interface improvements throughout, that are easier on the eye and built for long coding sessions. Visual Studio 2026 with Fluent Design includes crisp contrast, modern icons, fluid motion and thoughtful accessibility improvements. Options are optimised in tabs rather than dialogs and you can get the look and feel you want with new colourful themes to personalise your experience, that are always comfortable or focused when and where needed.

Visual Studio 2026 is ready for what developers are building next, including support for modern C++ with the latest language features, build immersive games with modern tools and streamline your development pipeline with smarter Git tooling, GitHub Actions integration and simpler DevOps workflows. Visual Studio 2026 enables developers to take full advantage of the latest version of .NET, with first-class support for web, desktop and AI workloads in .NET 10 along with C# 14 to code clearer, faster and more expressively, with less effort plus first-class support for Aspire to build cloud-native .NET apps with a delightful local developer experience, and create intelligent apps with Azure AI that are fully integrated into your workflow. To find out more about what you can build, test and deploy with the latest version of .NET with .NET 10 using Visual Studio 2026, then visit dot.net or check out the link in the show notes.

GitHub Copilot

Visual Studio 2026 enables developers to level up with AI using GitHub Copilot, which is an AI coding partner which can tackle repetitive tasks along with anticipating your next move to save time and improve creativity. GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio 2026 is not just aware of developer's code but understands work with full context across a solution, repository and tools, that help developers move quicker and think broader to create with confidence. GitHub Copilot can help break through blockers to help you progress, such as finding a bug or understanding an API and can help you stay focused to keep current and keep coding, without interruptions or needing to switch between different tabs or tools.

Visual Studio 2026 with GitHub Copilot can help developers build their best even faster, by turning ideas into working code with reduced friction and leaving space for developers to think creatively and act confidently. GitHub Copilot in Ask mode can assist with suggestions or in Agent mode can apply changes directly to code - all while keeping the developer in control as a coding companion to create code. You can find out more about GitHub Copilot at github.com/features/copilot or check out the link in the show notes.

Experience

Visual Studio 2026 ushers in a new era of efficient AI empowered software development, with a faster and more fluent experience for developers, that is already enabling me to get more done with less effort. I have been lucky enough to have been able to use the preview version of Visual Studio 2026, as a Microsoft MVP for a few weeks, before the insider version of Visual Studio 2026 was available publicly, where I've witnessed some of the features mature and expand. One key feature of Visual Studio 2026 was not only full compatibility with Visual Studio 2022 extensions, but also the ability to match the existing workloads in my Visual Studio 2026 installation, which made the whole process of upgrading easier but still retain the option be able to use my existing Visual Studio 2022 installation, however that has barely been loaded since I've installed Visual Studio 2026.

Visual Studio 2026 was a faster experience from first installation from the first preview version I tried, with a delightful surprise to see it load so quickly after that initial installation process, to then see improvements and features appear in later previews, which culminated in the Insider's version of Visual Studio 2026 which was available for everyone to use in September 2025. I've been working on a new presentation which takes advantage of many of the features within .NET 10, and Visual Studio 2026 has made putting together the demo a delightful and efficient experience, and the main reason I most look forward to the final release of Visual Studio 2026, is to be able to leverage that same efficient experience at work! You'll be able to get the demo and slides for this new presentation, “Take a Note of UI with .NET 10” from the 11th of November 2025 at github.com/rogueplanetoid or check out the link in the show notes.

History

Visual Studio 2026 may be the latest version, but I'm pleased to say that I've been on the journey of a being a Visual Studio user since the first version when I unboxed Visual Studio 97 almost three decades ago! Visual Studio 97 was my first integrated development environment as before that I'd either used GW Basic on my Toshiba T-1200 or BASIC for the Commodore 64. In 1997 I was at high school at the time and was able to secure student licensed version of Visual Studio 97, as there were no free community editions back then, which cost around £200 or around £400 or $540 dollars today. Visual Studio 97 was a developer experience that I was able to take advantage of as an equal to those using it to build business or enterprise software.

Visual Studio 6 would be the next version of Visual Studio just a year later, but I had to wait a little longer to secure a discounted copy from eBay when it launched here in the UK a year after that when I started University in 1998, and it was that version I learned the most so far including creating and sharing Visual Basic 6 tutorials on my website at the time. During my placement year I was able to get a preview version of what would become Visual Studio .NET, which marked the beginning of the .NET era and later was able to get my own final version when I could afford to do so after its release in 2002. Later I was able to upgrade to Visual Studio .NET 2003 after it was released along with Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, these two options were made easier and cheaper with ability to create applications for free with Visual Basic 2005 Express and Visual Basic 2008 Express.

Visual Studio 2010 was my next upgrade, which was used in role, where I then needed more development options, which were delivered with Visual Studio 2012 to develop for phone and for web. However, there were still no free editions of the full Visual Studio available for creating personal projects, that was until the release of Visual Studio 2013, which introduced the idea of the free Community edition of Visual Studio, which enabled developers such as me to be able to work on personal projects using the same developer tools and functionality as professional applications, the only difference being the licence for Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2015 and Visual Studio 2017 then followed, which I could use both at work and at home, which was then followed by Visual Studio 2019. With the release of Visual Studio 2022 would come the version of Visual Studio I have used the most, which has been the mainstay of my personal projects and have used it to create my open-source toolkits and asset packages, along with many demos for presentations, plus in most of my recent roles as well, so have probably used it more than most of the previous versions of Visual Studio combined.

Conclusion

Visual Studio's journey has also been my own journey as a developer, from student at school with the very first version of Visual Studio with Visual Studio 97 to a senior software engineer using Visual Studio 2022 professionally, but also grateful for the opportunity to be able to use the next part of the journey of Visual Studio already with Visual Studio 2026. I'm pleased to have created every single major personal and professional project, using every single major version of Visual Studio and will continue to do so for as long as its journey continues. I've used Visual Studio for so long I'm a light-mode developer as that's the experience I had back then and always reminds me of the journey from then to now with Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2026 has been another example of the improvements and benefits for developers, and I have witnessed many enhancements over the years that developers now take for granted such as from IntelliSense to Intellicode to GitHub Copilot, and so many other features that are too numerous to name here. It also great to see that Visual Studio remains accessible with the Community edition, of which previous editions have helped me skill up and learn so I was ready for roles that used the paid version of Visual Studio. It is great to move into this new era of software development using Visual Studio 2026 and can't wait to see what's in store for the future of Visual Studio!

Outro

Thanks for listening to the RoguePlanetoid Podcast where each episode you will find insights about Microsoft or related platforms and technology, along with so much more wherever you listen to your podcasts or at rogueplanetoid.com/podcasts for the RoguePlanetoid Podcast whether you are a beginner or an experienced professional or just interested in technology. Keep Current, Keep Coding!