Microsoft Implements Training Wheels
🛠️ When the Tool Fights the Technician
Why Visual Studio 2026’s Schema Lockdown Is a Step Backward for Developers Who Know What They’re Doing
I didn’t set out to break anything. I wasn’t trying to override the system, exploit a loophole, or hack around a limitation. I was trying to fix a broken feature—AI documentation suggestions triggered by /// comments—that used to work just fine. And when it failed, I did what any disciplined developer would do: I opened the settings file and tried to restore it manually.
That’s when Visual Studio 2026 Insiders erased my configuration.
No warning. No fallback. No grayed-out keys. Just silent deletion.
🧠The Regression Nobody Asked For
In previous versions, if you added an unsupported key to settings.json, Visual Studio would ignore it gracefully. It might gray it out in the UI, or skip it during parsing—but it wouldn’t punish you for trying. That behavior respected developers. It understood that experimentation is part of the process.
Now? Schema validation is strict. If you add a key that isn’t recognized—like triggerOnTripleSlash or enableDocumentationComments—the entire block is wiped. No trace. No feedback. No respect.
🧬 Configuration Is Code
Let’s be clear: if a developer can’t handle a simple JSON file, they have no business writing code. Configuration is code. Structure is clarity. And clarity is non-negotiable.
When Microsoft locks down the schema and removes the ability to experiment, they’re not protecting developers—they’re infantilizing them. They’re trading flexibility for control. And they’re breaking workflows that power users have relied on for years.
🧯 Abstractions & Guardrails We’ve Forensically Identified in Visual Studio 2026 Insiders
1. Strict Schema Enforcement in settings.json
- Custom keys are no longer tolerated.
- Invalid entries are silently erased instead of grayed out.
- Settings removed if they don't like it, no published acceptable defaults.
- You can get a default .editorconfig but not a settings.json. That tells me that they didn't plan the schema before they took an axe to the working options infrastructure. Another guiding principle eroding away before our eyes.
- No feedback, no fallback, no respect for intent.
- Publish the damn schema and get rid of this stupid training wheel "schema enforcement"
- You used to respect the programmer...
2. AI Documentation Suggestion (/// → @) Regression
- Previously triggered reliably above public members.
- Now gated behind undocumented toggles and invisible heuristics.
- No manual override or fallback trigger.
- Could be a bug - Available workarounds? See # 1
3. No Export Between User-Level and Project-Level Settings
- VS claims to support both scopes, but offers no way to copy, merge, or inspect differences.
- No UI or CLI tooling to bridge the gap.
- Still work in progress? ok. Available workaround? See # 1
4. Preview Feature Toggles with No Provenance
- Toggling experimental features gives no insight into what settings are changed.
- No audit trail, no config diff, no reproducibility.
5. AI Completion Suppression Based on Context Heuristics
- IntelliCode suggestions are withheld unless the context meets invisible criteria.
- Even valid XML comments and public methods may not trigger completions.
- New UI, bugs expected, no problem check raw settings. See # 1
6. Hot Reload Fails on Flattened Grid Definitions
- AI or tooling flattens
ColumnDefinitionsinto attributes. - WinUI 3 requires child elements—schema violation silently compiles but breaks Hot Reload.
- This is just an AI bug but an unusual one. It reverted a pure WinUI 3 app to old WPF patterns.
7. Linked File Support Removed from Solution Folders
- Visual Studio 2026 removed the ability to link files into solution folders.
- Breaks solution-level structure, Git visibility, and team workflows.
- Simplified solution file, got rid of all the guids. But they also removed the all inclusive unless excluded nature of Solution files and folders. IMHO it is one of the most unnecessary change of all. So not only did they remove the all inclusive nature at the solution level, they removed the ability to link outside folders to a solution. More times than not I have folders outside of all the projects that contain docs,code maps etc. that apply to all the projects not just one.. and I shouldn't have to hunt around for my files... Oh sure they have "Solution Folders" as an alternative. Stupid what is the point? You have to select each file you want to put in there. Blobs not accepted. And what about the now ever so popular .github folder for your copilot-instructions and workflows? It is just ridiculous. Stop fixing things that are not broke and stop dis-respecting the very people that keep you in business. Lets face the truth, Windows is not your cash cow certainly not like it was under proper management..
9. No Way to Dump Full Settings Schema
- No documented schema for
settings.json. - No CLI or UI export to view all valid keys or structure.
- Workaround?? See # 1
🛡️ I Will Stay Silent No More
This isn’t just about a broken AI feature. It's not about incomplete features. I expect problems, I choose to get insider versions to see the new stuff and help test and report. The bugs aren't the problem here It’s about a philosophy shift—a move away from developer empowerment toward rigid containment. I’m not asking for undocumented hacks. I’m asking for the ability to work around what’s broken, to document the intent, and to preserve operational truth in my environment.
So here’s my message to Microsoft:
Stop fixing things that aren’t broken.
Stop erasing our work without warning.
Stop treating configuration like a threat.
Start trusting the technicians who built the systems you’re trying to improve.
If you really want to fix something, why don't you correctly implement the half-assed features that exist in Windows. You have started a extremely powerful feature in the performance and configuration data collectors but it is only half implemented. Think about this for a moment, if you had even completed just the configuration monitoring system fully and allowed drift detection. implemented a full set of common windows configuration alerts can you imagine how many trivial tech support calls could have been avoided?? And we are not talking about big changes.. You can create a collector that will spit out what the value is in a report but how is that useful to an every day user? now if that same "detector collector" :) would give you an alert or report on what might be configured wrong.!!! Boy howdy you would something with some teeth. You would have garnered more trust from your everyday users.
You are destroying what a great man built over a lifetime. He implemented strict guidelines absolutely.
But he never slapped his fellow software engineers in the face nor would he take away the power and put it behind absurd guardrails and not allow manipulation. You are stifling the creativity that launched us into this great tech boom we are in now.
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