GoKawiilEd Bott / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET's key takeaways
Microsoft is making the Insider Program less complicated.
Beta channel will be a more reliable preview of the next retail release.
Other changes will allow testers to quickly enable/disable new features.
Last month, Microsoft took official notice of its customers' many complaints about Windows 11. Pavan Davaluri, the executive vice president who runs the Windows and Devices group, promised sweeping changes to Windows 11. Today, the company announced the first of those changes in a post authored by Alec Oot, who's been the principal group product manager for the Windows Insider Program since January 2024.
Those changes will streamline the Insider program, which has lost sight of its original goals in the past few years. (For a brief history of the program and what had gone wrong, see my post from last November: "The Windows Insider Program is a confusing mess.")
Also: If Microsoft really wants to fix Windows 11, it should do these four things ASAP
If you're currently participating in the Windows Insider Program, these are meaningful changes. Here's what you can expect.
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