Microsoft is redesigning its Windows Insider program – the biggest change is the introduction of a “canary channel”. With this, the Windows team is adding more “spice” to its tests with end users, because there will be faster updates and more new things to test.
Microsoft has now announced this. In the Windows Blog, the head of the insider program, Amanda Langowski, gave an outlook on what Microsoft is hoping for with the changes to the insider test and what the voluntary testers are now facing.
The term “canary channel” is already known from other software developments, for example from the Edge Insider program. Traditionally, a canary channel receives updates more frequently than other channels. It has not yet been announced how the new Windows Canary channel will work – but daily updates like other canaries are excluded.
But Amanda Langowski revealed the distribution of the channels. Going forward, the build numbers for each Insider channel will be as follows:
Microsoft has indicated that the Canary channel may receive new features as they are developed, even with incomplete documentation and validation. This also means that the team will not be blogging release notes for every release in the canary. However, this makes it more difficult to report on innovations quickly – you will first have to discover them.
The new channel also plans to test major changes to the Windows kernel and APIs that require a longer lead time before general release. This is another reason why these changes should be tested with end users as quickly as possible. Previously, such features were made available through the Dev Channel. The “new” Dev Channel is now intended for Windows enthusiasts who would like to try out new features that are not tied to a specific operating system version.
He will enjoy higher stability than Canary. Both the beta and release preview channels will remain untouched as they are. It is not yet known when the first new builds can be expected.
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