As a developer and technologist, here is a list of my observations that I’ve made over the past several months as AI has dramatically changed the world I live in. To be continued?

Microsoft is well on their way to releasing the next version of Visual Studio. Recently, they demoed some of the updates. Very interesting watch.

With Windows 11, Microsoft left a lot of capable machines behind on Windows 10. Even high-end PCs that are still extremely capable still missed the cut, simply because of their PC processor generation. What is one to do with a PC that is still capable, yet is about to be out of support? A user could pay for security updates, switch to another OS, or buy a new PC. Wouldn’t it be great if Microsoft would provide some sort of way to continue to stay supported and safe on an older PC? Maybe even a return of the Windows Fundamentals…

We all know that Windows XP lasted from its release in 2001 until its final security patch in 2014. But did you know that a variant of XP—Windows Embedded POSReady 2009—was supported all the way until 2019? That’s 18 years of official support for Windows XP and its derivatives. That makes Windows XP the longest-supported version of Windows, right? Or does it? The original Xbox ran a variant of Windows 2000. The Xbox 360? It also used a heavily customized version of Windows 2000—this time adapted for a PowerPC processor. Now, let’s do some quick math. The Xbox 360 launched…

If you, like me, have been waiting patiently for over a year, for the new Visual Studio UI refresh, wait no longer. You can enable it on non-preview builds: https://albertakhmetov.com/posts/2024/visual-studio-ui-refresh/

You’re stuck. You have a PC that doesn’t meet the Windows 11 minimum requirements and Windows 10 is barreling toward end-of-life. Maybe you have a first generation AMD Ryzen PC, or Threadripper. It has plenty of horsepower but appears destined for the dustbin. What to do? You have a few options: #5 is an intriguing path forward, one that provides a few benefits. First, as of this writing in 2024, you will be on the latest platform release of Windows. Windows Server 2025 and Windows 11 24H2 share a common Windows build number (26100). Second, you’ll be on a supported…