When Microsoft released Windows 10, it did so with its new Insider Program, a way to offer users the ability to test preview in-development versions of the operating system long before its official release.
But not everything has been flowers and unicorns, the Insider Program has long left a bad taste in the mouth to Windows 10 users, as the flaws with each new version of the system continue to increase and some just blame how that program largely replaced part of Microsoft’s in-house test team that was much more rigorous.
Farewell to ‘Skip Ahead’
The Insider Program has always been divided into “rings”, when you join it from the Windows 10 options you can choose whether you want to be in a fast ring, in a slow ring or in the Release Preview ring. Each has different preview versions that vary in quality and development state.
Until now there was also the Skip Ahead ring, one that allowed you to try the next major update of Windows 10, and the one that subjected the user to deal with the more unstable versions of all previous ones.
After announcing the Build 19018 of Windows 10, that is, the latest preview version of Windows 10 20H1 expected this spring, Microsoft decided that they would also be discontinuing the Skip Ahead ring, and from now on all Insiders that were part of it would pass the fast ring instead.
This decision is likely to have been motivated in part by the increased issues with each release of a new version of Windows 10. Simplifying the Insider Program could favour it, and as a result, it could favor all Windows 10 users. But that’s something we’ll only know in time.
