The Windows Insider program helped pour the foundation of today’s Microsoft. The program is open, transparent, allowing anyone to participate, and relies on user feedback significantly. It’s a middle ground between the lock-down of macOS and the open-source of Linux distributions.
Since its introduction, it has inspired other Insider programs across Microsoft; each slightly tweaked to fit the needs of that platform. There’s an Office Insider program, Xbox Insider program, and even a Skype Insider program.
But, now it’s time to evolve. The Creators Update is coming in just a few months, and the Insider program is focusing its efforts on preparing a stable build. Soon, a stable build will be ready for release, and the Windows Insider program will witness a few changes.
Windows Insider
In a series of tweets, Dona Sarkar of the Windows Insider program teased us of what is to come.
More beam casts, builds, behind the scenes vids/blogs, website/forums/user groups, more transparency, tech job training coming this year! https://t.co/oJjyUV5NdI
— Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) March 7, 2017
The Windows Insider program is to become more open, transparent, and listen to user feedback more than ever before.
There will be more Beam live streams, more vlogs and blog posts, and much more.
It will be exciting to watch these plans pan out and benefit the development of Windows. Hopefully, we will get to have a deeper look at how Windows is built and designed within the depths of Microsoft.
A new Build
Following the tease, Dona Sarkar tweeted about this week’s build.
Unfortunately, it’s not good news; this week’s Insider build has hit a roadblock. The Windows Insider team wanted to release a build earlier today, but could not do so due to update issues.
(1/2)#WindowsInsiders we wanted to release a bld today, but we are seeing a few n-1 update issues in morning Flightops
— Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) March 7, 2017
(2/2) We will keep looking at selfhost & testing data to ensure smooth update and will hopefully flight tomorrow (Wed). #WindowsInsiders
— Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) March 7, 2017
If you are wondering what the term ‘n-1’ means, Sarkar was kind enough to provide an explanation for that as well.
N = build that's in selfhost
N-1 = previous compiled build
N+1= next compiled build
We don't flight till we can update from n-1 to n to n+1— Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) March 7, 2017
Hopefully, tomorrow will bring better news. It will still most likely be a build full of bug fixes; don’t get too excited for new features.
