I want to be excited about Windows Insider again

Is the world on the correct track now? At least this is how I feel about this.

I signed up for Windows Insider on day zero, back when we thought Windows Phone could beat other mobile OSs. We were crazy, right? I was. I signed up for a preview build on my day-to-day machine and phone.

It was pretty cool to see the progress of a whole new system being built. The UI improvements, the core changes, the issues that I was having getting fixed. I got so excited that it became my community, and I could talk for ages about all the latest bits. I genuinely got excited about testing something new, about being the first one to download those new bits.

Something changed since then. And I don’t think it’s about Microsoft. We developers, with stakeholders being crazy and not caring about good quality, just ‘ship ship ship’ and ‘money money money’, got us here. And where are we? In a frustrating point with software development and usage. Let me deep dive into this for a bit. If you want just the Windows Insider bits, it’s OK to skip a few paragraphs.

Huge disappointment

The software quality dropped a lot. I feel that every day. By quality, I mean: I don’t think big companies (like Apple, Facebook, Google, Uber) are really testing their software. Because there are some errors that even a junior developer could catch on a happy path of an integration or unit test. I mean, I understand stuff gets complicated fast with internationalization, accessibility, feature flags, and whatever. But I don’t think we are carrying that ‘craftsmanship’ we had years ago. We are not trying to make apps use less memory. We just add a new JavaScript lib into an Electron app, just because building with React makes it easy somehow. What happened to WinUI, to C++, C#, Rust, or Java?

We let this craziness happen, and now WhatsApp is an Electron app instead of WinUI as it used to be (consuming so much less memory, and so much quicker). How can I blame them, if even Microsoft is putting core bits of their system to NOT follow their own design and product (WinUI, FluentUI, etc…)? Did they ever hear of dogfooding? I’m really starting to believe that they don’t. So why would Meta follow it? Why should I?

Again, not a Microsoft per se problem. I think it’s really a low point for a huge company like Meta to take a REALLY LONG TIME to sync up my WhatsApp since I last opened it. If I just logged in again, it would have the data ready for me in a bit. It takes longer to sync than to log in and allow me to use it. Like what? Come on, Meta!

Even Apple. I can’t believe that after almost a year since their last iPadOS launch, they couldn’t fix me not being able to close some applications. Ok, I won’t get started on this, or any other company. Focus, Norton, focus.

You see? I have tons of feedback, tons of stuff to care about. I just stopped thinking this would change anything. We, as developers, and companies wanting to release stuff in record time and not completely ready, made us stop the craftsmanship that started that whole industry. I just read Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, and even though he was an asshole, it showed me how challenging it was back in the day, not just for Apple, but for all the industry. The rush to make it a bit faster, use less memory.

We keep adding more memory, more battery, more CPU, not because we need it, but because the system is not well written. That’s still not AI. That’s the last 5 years of software development, IMO. We still have yet to discover what AI would do.

Back to the Windows Insider situation…

Couldn’t advocate for Windows anymore

Windows followed that path, well… Microsoft followed that path. And with it, the Insider Program.

I was an MVP for the program from the first to the last day, plus 12 years as a software engineer, so I really know this when I say: “They need to ship stuff and test on as many computers as they can to make sure everything is working perfectly.” There are so many ways to customize Windows, with different software, drivers, hardware, settings, and then so many users with different languages, cultures, and use cases. The more, the better. I also understand the need for feature flags.

While we’re here, let me add this: again, not only a Microsoft problem. Actually, they do better than most companies, but every company thinks it’s just us. Their software works great for Seattle or the Bay Area or NYC.

But there was a time when I simply didn’t care about new builds enough to even install them. I even tried recently to get back on Canary and be energetic about it, but… there’s no ninja cats with hidden build numbers (that became pretty boring to follow), no anxiety of a “is there a build today?”, it just became corporate, boring stuff. And I get it. Microsoft became for focus on their enterprise clients and they are sad and can’t appreciate a silliness. We all agree that Dona made such an amazing job, right?

Is that it? Of course not! The new builds don’t have anything I care enough about to test. They simply don’t. Either because:

Copilot+ PC

I don’t have a Copilot+ PC (I can’t take this AI bullshit anymore, sorry dude. I’m sick of it. And I work with AI, I need AI, I can’t live without AI anymore, but come on!!!!)

It’s not for me anymore

I don’t have the “correct” Windows version, or should I say, the correct Microsoft account. The experience changes depending on whether you have an enterprise account. I even started using an enterprise account just to test a few features. I went back to a personal account because My Phone on the Start Menu (and other features) wasn’t available for enterprise accounts. Everything is policies (some don’t even have one, like My Phone). Everything became so corporate. I truly felt that Windows wasn’t being made for me anymore. I’m just not their market. I love Windows. It really changed my life for the better. I’m a heavy and power user, but I was the last one considering moving to Linux or Mac (all my friends had already moved on).

Just non useful crap

There are so many irrelevant new features, like Widgets, News, Copilot (bring Cortana back, it would be so much better), and fun facts on the lock screen. Again, this features seems great, if you live in US, but when not in US it looks good on PPTs, but the real day to day use, its just non existing. I even started looking at projects like Win11Debloat as a savior. I understand that Microsoft wants to make new features in the OS, and that they have tons of developers available and need to put them to work on something. But can you just stop making non-OS features and give a raise and a promotion to the PowerToys folks? Maybe they should be the ones carrying new features in the OS. Ok, I know that’s harsh. My point is: instead of trying to make new features, can you just focus on making the ones that exist good, and improve them? It’s 2026, and there are so many old interfaces like Task Scheduler that could be such a great tool with just a better UX. Or Disk Management. Please, just keep doing the migration you all started with Windows 8/10. I know you haven’t stopped, but instead of new non-OS features, can you focus on finishing those first? Soon there will be Windows 12 and those will still look like Windows Vista. Well, I mean, I can’t be sad about this. I’d rather have it like this than have it be Electron or AI slop.

Feature Flags

Feature flags. Just that. I update, update, update, and still don’t have the feature. The old energy was: we all get almost the same build, and then we collectively discover what’s inside it. We find bugs. We share workarounds. We teach each other. Now it feels like a lottery where the build number is just a wrapper, and the experience depends on: region; account type; hardware class or a server-side toggle that might never flip.

So when people ask, “did you test the new feature?”, the honest answer becomes, “I can’t, because I don’t have it.” And after a few cycles, you stop looking.

All this led me to not care, or advocate, for Windows. I simply didn’t have anything to say, like “it’s a good OS” or “this is cool.” And I want that. I want to advocate and be able to say good things about it.

Pavan’s post: Our commitment to Windows Quality

Such a refresh, but I’m not going to pretend a single post fixes everything (let’s see what they are cooking up), but it’s the first time in a while that I read something from the Insider team and felt seen: non-mechanical, and not targeted to enterprise directors’ POVs, but to users.

When a major company like Microsoft can make a turnaround like this, I know other companies can follow along with time. So I think: Is the world on the correct track now? At least this is how I feel about this.

But man, we don’t need “higher quality builds”. We all sign up for this knowing that we may need to do a clean install after trying to update to a new version. And that’s what we want. If you push for “higher quality builds” in Canary or Dev, you will just keep hitting the same problem. We want the broken ones, the really early ones, the ‘I’m just messing with this bit for now’, the ‘not sure what we are building here’. Go for it! We are eagerly waiting for this.