Windows Insider

Um, we'll see.

But yeah, I mean, if, uh, I will say, like, there's still some vague kind of non-transparency stuff when it comes to testing Windows and Windows Insider Program and when does this become this and when does this hit public and yada, yada, yada.

But, but, um, they are doing a better job of following a more logical progression through the system, meaning, you know, the s- the names have changed, but not always.

But, you know, so a new feature or whatever it is, a change will occur in experimental.

All right, so 24, 25H2, 26H1, you have week D updates if you want them.

You know, I- they seem to be pretty stable for the most part, um, in my experience, but I don't know.

Um, and then, then, uh, probably last Friday, Microsoft released an indeterminate number of builds to the Windows Insider Program, 'cause that's how they do things now.

Um, their official description is that we have two channels.

So that's that USB drive we were just talking about.

The latest Windows Insider build previews a new method to restore Windows 11 devices to factory settings that only requires an internet connection.

The update also lets users test upgrades to autoplay, desktop customization, file explorer, and other features.

So really what that means is if you had to reset your system, you know, something went absolutely wrong, everything broke, and you need to really, really start over from scratch and reinstall Windows.

...

there have been seven Windows Insider builds released, and, uh, I believe that's all the channels.

So-

And some of those channels-

And they're doing it differently than they've ever done it before because they have to keep everybody on their toes, [laughs] I guess.

Um, and so what they did today, instead of releasing it to Windows Update to everybody as a preview update, they released it to the release preview channel of the Windows Insider Program.

Um, so again, this is not the way things usually go, but this also corresponds to the schedule as I sort of expected it to go anyway, which was that in September we'll most likely get that preview update of 26H2, which you'll get if you have Windows 11 version 24H2 or 25H2.

Um, and then in October we'll probably get the general stable release or whatever.

We did an episode about, uh, Copilot, I don't know, a month or two ago, but, uh, that will be changing to some degree.

I think I already went through, uh, some of the things that are actually gonna be in it, which includes some features that are going away, but, you know, we'll look at that again as it comes up.

Um, they improved the, uh, Windows Insider Program.

I probably should have air quoted that [chuckles] because it's still kind of complex.

It's fine.

Um, and then yesterday, which was Patch Tuesday, but ahead of the Patch Tuesday releases, Microsoft announced, you know, five Windows Insider builds because, you know, let's keep everyone busy.

[laughs]

Um-