Developer Mode - Timeline before GA

[dbeavon3]

Is anyone able to guess how long it will take for the "developer mode" to come out of preview?

I'd like to start relying on the text-based source code (rather than pbix files).  The pbix files are basically useless in git.  However it seems like a slight risk to abandon those pbix files altogether until Microsoft agrees to fully support the new developer projects. (ie. take the related CSS support cases and what-not).

I'm guessing that "developer mode" will take a very long time to come out of preview.  For whatever reason that is typical of the Power BI team.  They like to tease us for two or three years before something goes GA.  This happened with "composite models", and with the "azure-managed-vnet-gateway", and in other cases as well.  It is a bit frustrating for newer users who are unfamiliar with the Power BI lifecycles; it isn't what people expect from a "public preview".  For any other product or platform a "public preview" means that the feature is much, much closer to GA!

It seems like the Power BI team should give us approximate ETA's when they relese their "previews", or they should use some sort of naming convention to help us understand how close we are to GA (ie. "bronze/silver/gold" or whatever). Any guesses about the approximate ETA would be appreciated.    Please don't say 3 years.

[dbeavon3]

@Idrissshatila Thanks for the app.  The roadmap doesn't look like it extends far enough into the future.  Any thoughts on how long the GA might take (tentative guesses)?  Lets make it a multiple choice question.  The answer is : one, two, three, four, or five years.  You can even select two of these as your guess. 

Also, do you think that the Power BI team would offer to take support cases for projects via CSS, even if the functionality is still in preview?  I don't know how bad a bug might actually get .  I suppose the worst possible case would be that the project stops opening in the PBI desktop, and I would then have to create a pbix from scratch and copy/paste all the text-encoded contents of the project back into the pbix report.  I could lose about a day per document, but I suppose it isn't the end of the world, right?  Am I missing any other risks?

[Idrissshatila]

Hello @dbeavon3 ,

You could always reach out to microsoft support and open a ticket in case of a bug or an issue.

https://support.powerbi.com

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[dbeavon3]

The developer mode (aka Power BI Desktop projects) is still in preview, with no GA in sight.

Here is the link:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/projects/projects-overview

There are occasional updates from the product team, but no GA:

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-enhanced-report-format-pbir-in-power-bi-desktop-de...

(June 13, 2024 update)

[dbeavon3]

Update:  Another six months have passed and the project format is still in Preview:

It is now January 2025.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/projects/projects-overview

[dbeavon3]

So you think they support "preview" functionality?  That is encouraging.

The PG is certainly not going to share any ETA's.  Anything that is further out than 3 months is probably not discussed.  I just wanted to to get a sense of how long we might wait, from the long-term members of this community.

[Idrissshatila]

Hello @dbeavon3 ,

There's no clear date yet, but you can follow there release plan app to get the updates.

check it out https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/power-bi/pbicat.powerbi-release-plan

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