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.
In March, Microsoft finally 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. Earlier this month, 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 are designed to 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: 5 ways your Windows updates are about to get a lot less painful
The first release incorporating those changes has now begun rolling out, with an official announcement on the Windows Insider blog: "We're moving to Experimental and Beta!" Build 26300.8289, released to the Dev channel on April 24, offers testers a pathway to the new Insider experience.
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