Microsoft remains committed to making OpenTelemetry the foundation of modern observability on Azure. Today, we’re excited to take the next step on that journey with a major release of the Application Insights SDK 3.x for .NET.
With Application Insights SDK 3.x, developers can migrate to OpenTelemetry-based instrumentation with dramatically less effort. Until now, migrating from classic Application Insights SDK to the Azure Monitor OpenTelemetry Distro required a clean install and code updates.
With this release, most customers can adopt OpenTelemetry simply by upgrading their SDK version. The new SDK automatically routes your classic Application Insights Track* APIs calls through a new mapping layer that emits OpenTelemetry signals under the hood.
By upgrading, you gain:
✔ Vendor‑neutral OpenTelemetry APIs going forward
You can immediately begin writing new code using OpenTelemetry APIs, ensuring future portability and alignment with industry standards.
✔ Access to the full OpenTelemetry ecosystem
You can now easily plug in community instrumentation libraries and exporters. For example, collecting Redis Cache dependency data—previously not supported with Application Insights 2.x—becomes straightforward.
✔ Multi‑exporter support
Export to Azure Monitor and another system (e.g., a SIEM or backend of your choice) simultaneously if your scenario requires it.
One area where automatic migration is not possible is telemetry processors and telemetry initializers. These Application Insights extensibility points were extremely flexible, allowing custom property injection, filtering, or deletion logic.
OpenTelemetry supports similar behavior, but through more structured concepts such as span processors. See here for a full list of breaking changes.
On a positive note, these OpenTelemetry components generally deliver better performance and clearer behavior. Our documentation assists with migration, and we plan to release an MCP with guardrails to assist LLM in accurate coding.
While OpenTelemetry encourages the use of the OpenTelemetry-Collector, we remain committed to preserving the simplicity that customers love about Azure Monitor Application Insights. The Azure Monitor OpenTelemetry Distro is all that’s required to get started. It’s just a single NuGet package and you configure it with a Connection String. Telemetry flows in minutes.
No Collector is required unless you explicitly want one. We are able to achieve this with extensive built‑in sampling to manage cost and a trace‑preservation algorithm, so you see complete traces. This keeps the “just works” spirit of Azure Monitor Application Insights intact, while aligning with OpenTelemetry standards.
If you encounter issues during the upgrade, please open a support ticket—we want the migration to be smooth. If you’d like to share feedback or engage directly with the product team, email us at otel@microsoft.com. This is not an official support channel, but we read every email and appreciate hearing feedback directly from you!
We cover the new Visual Studio Code January release and some updates to GitHub!
00:00 Intro
00:13 GitHub
01:14 Visual Studio Code
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Links
GitHub
• GitHub Mobile: Comment on unchanged lines in pull request files - https://github.blog/changelog/2026-02-03-github-mobile-comment-on-unchanged-lines-in-pull-request-files/
• Simplified Copilot model enablement experience for individual users - https://github.blog/changelog/2026-02-03-simplified-copilot-model-enablement-experience-for-individual-users/
• Claude and Codex are now available in public preview on GitHub - https://github.blog/changelog/2026-02-04-claude-and-codex-are-now-available-in-public-preview-on-github/
• Claude Opus 4.6 is now generally available for GitHub Copilot - https://github.blog/changelog/2026-02-05-claude-opus-4-6-is-now-generally-available-for-github-copilot/
• Fast mode for Claude Opus 4.6 is now in preview for GitHub Copilot - https://github.blog/changelog/2026-02-07-claude-opus-4-6-fast-is-now-in-public-preview-for-github-copilot/
• Pinned comments on GitHub Issues - https://github.blog/changelog/2026-02-05-pinned-comments-on-github-issues/
Visual Studio Code
• January 2026 (version 1.109) - https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_109?WT.mc_id=MVP_274787
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🐦X: https://x.com/theredcuber
🐙Github: https://github.com/noraa-junker
📃My website: https://noraajunker.ch
About the show
Sponsored by us! Support our work through:
Michael #1: Command Book App
Brian #2: uvx.sh: Install Python tools without uv or Python
Michael #3: Ending 15 years of subprocess polling
subprocess module has relied on a busy-loop polling approach since the timeout parameter was added to Popen.wait() in Python 3.3, around 15 years agopoll() (or kqueue()) puts the process into the exact same sleeping state as a plain time.sleep() call. From the kernel's perspective, both are interruptible sleeps.Brian #4: monty: A minimal, secure Python interpreter written in Rust for use by AI
Extras
Brian:
Michael:
Joke: Silence, current side project!
New Emoji 16.0 emoji from left to right: Face with Bags Under Eyes, Fingerprint, Root Vegetable, Leafless Tree, Harp, Shovel, and Splatter.[/caption]
Feedback: Share your thoughts in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Input and Language > Emoji panel.
UI showing new pan and tilt controls for supported cameras in Settings.[/caption]
Feedback: Share your thoughts in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Devices and Drivers > Device Camera or Webcams.