The Windows Insider Program is once again being overhauled - here's what's happening

[Karlston]

The Windows Insider Program is once again being overhauled - here's what's happening

Microsoft has made some big changes to the Windows Insider Program over the last year and a half. It started in January 2019 when Insiders started testing out Windows 10 20H1 around eight months earlier than they normally would. The head of the program Dona Sarkar left in October, and then there were big changes in December.

 

That's when Microsoft announced that it was killing off the Skip Ahead subset of the Fast ring and that it was changing how builds were delivered. From then on, Fast ring builds were said to not be tied to a specific Windows 10 release, and the Slow ring was dedicated to servicing a release before it could be promoted to the Release Preview ring, and then production.

 

Now, this long process of evolving the Insider Program is continuing. First of all, rings are becoming channels, similar to what we're already seeing on other Microsoft products like Edge and Office. Secondly, the Fast ring is becoming the Dev channel, the Slow ring is becoming the Beta channel, and the Release Preview ring is becoming the Release Preview channel.

 

The actual content of the Windows Insider channels isn't any different from what we were getting from the rings. You'll see prerelease builds from Dev, more reliable builds that are tied to a feature update in Beta, and then Release Preview will continue to offer builds that are slated to be released to the public at some point.

 

The whole idea is that with the way that the program has evolved already, the old names just don't make sense anymore. The old names imply a frequency of build releases, rather than reflecting quality. That's what the new names are meant to reflect.

 

Microsoft says that you'll start seeing these changes later on this month, and you'll automatically be moved over to the channel that corresponds with the ring you're on.

 

 

The Windows Insider Program is once again being overhauled - here's what's happening

 

[leland]

This will only help if they start listening to input about problems with the updates.  Otherwise it's just marketing spin... 

[Karlston]

Microsoft revamps Windows Insider release vernacular

For Windows Insider's build tracks, Slow Ring and Fast Ring are now out; Dev, Beta and Channel are in.

Rob Schultz

A month after announcing sweeping name and default-settings changes to Office 365's distribution framework, Microsoft this week followed up with a reworking of its Windows 10 preview program.

 

Existing names for Windows Insider's build tracks – like Slow Ring and Fast Ring – will be replaced by the terms Dev and Beta followed by the label Channel, the latter matching the current term for polished Windows distributions.

 

The short version of Monday's naming announcement: Microsoft swapped labels on two of the three Insider build rings, canned Ring entirely and went for Channel instead.

Forget frequency, consider quality, says Microsoft

Microsoft explained the name convention changes to Insider as a switch from emphasizing how often the company released new previews to a focus on their general quality.

 

"We are transitioning and converting our current ring model, based on the frequency of builds, to a new channel model that pivots on the quality of builds," wrote Amanda Langowski, principal program manager who leads the Insider program, in a June 15 post to a company blog. "Our goal is to not only make it clearer for existing Insiders to choose the experience that's right for them, but also for new Insiders to pick the right channel as they join."

 

The following figure from Microsoft shows the old and new names for Insider's delivery channels at the bottom and top of each column, respectively.

 

Microsoft

Microsoft will again monkey with its release nomenclature, this time with the Windows Insider distribution categories.

The new names – Dev and Beta – have long been used by browsers, including Chrome and the Chromium-based Edge, and do speak to code quality in ways familiar to users. (Beta, anyway, is a term most understand.) That's Microsoft's expectation, at least. "Insiders can pick a channel that represents the experience they want for their device based on the quality they are most comfortable with," said Langowski.

 

However, in and of themselves, the new names are not more descriptive than their predecessors, which is why in the above figure, Microsoft accompanied the renamed channels with lines such as "These will be reliable with updates validated by Microsoft (emphasis in original)." Computerworld doubts that new labels will markedly alter users' perception of Insider or their choices of channels.

 

Microsoft will automatically shift users to the new categories, so those currently receiving previews from the Fast Ring will instead get code from the Dev Channel.

 

The name changes are set to take place later this month, Langowski said.

 

That timing will likely coincide with Microsoft revealing what it intends to release this fall as 2009 and next spring as 2103. Langowski said that the Beta Channel would be tied to a "specific upcoming release," a change from late last year when Microsoft said it would no longer link under-development features with a future feature upgrade. (The Dev Channel, meanwhile, "will contain the latest work-in-progress code" and will not be "matched to a specific Windows 10 release.")

 

By linking the Beta Channel to an upcoming release, Microsoft will have to, at least, tell customers what that release is.

Like Office 365? Hardly

Microsoft also claimed that the new Windows Insider channels would make it easier for users to select an appropriate preview of Office 365, which went on a renaming spree last month.

 

"We are extremely excited to be aligning with Office, where new channel names were recently announced," Langowski gushed. "An Insider can make a choice as to which experience they want and have it mean the same thing between Windows and Office." She also hinted that at some future point, registering for Windows and Office 365 previews might be a one-stop experience, letting IT administrators sign up for both programs simultaneously.

 

Langowski's claim that the two program's labels "mean the same thing" is a stretch, however. Only the Beta Channel name is cross-Insider. What Microsoft will call Release Preview Channel (formerly, Release Preview Ring) in Windows goes by the not-nearly-the-same Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview).

 

(And although Microsoft lumped Office 365's Current Channel (Preview) in with Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview) – meaning a match for Windows Insider's Release Preview Channel – in May the company said the former was the new name for what had sometimes been called Insider Slow...which was now being called Dev Channel. Got that? Right, we didn't either.)

 

Bottom line: Microsoft has a long way to go to sync the two preview programs, one that will be impossible until it, at minimum, sports the same number of channels. (Note: Windows Insider now has three, Office has six.)

 

According to Langowski, IT admins will be able to manage Beta Channel and Release Preview Channel builds with the same tools they use to work with WSUS (Windows Server Update Service) and WUfB (Windows Update for Business).

 

 

Microsoft revamps Windows Insider release vernacular