Should You Join the Windows 'Insider' Program?

▼ Time Stamps: ▼
0:00 - Intro
0:48 - What Is It?
1:56 - Very Good Thing
3:34 - Dev Channel
5:39 - Beta Channel
7:55 - Internal Channels
9:23 - Release Preview Channel
10:10 - Major & Minor Builds
11:43 - Early Minor Patches
13:00 - "Secret" Early Updates
14:40 - Should You Join?
15:15 - Leaving the Insider Program
16:41 - How to Join

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[KevinStratvert]

Nice video! The reason patch Tuesday is on Tuesday... you push things out early in the week, so they have time to bake... never release right before the weekend, just in case 😂 With the internal rings, you still get 100K+ Microsoft users depending on the scenario, so decent amount of testing/validation before it hits external users with dev/beta/release.

[neilprimrose]

I've used all the different channels on Windows Insiders over the years and haven't found any horrendous problems, even on the Dev Channel. I've now settled back in to the regular Windows 11 build (the Outsiders Channel. if you will) which is probably an indication of how satisfied I am with the new operating system: nothing jars, it matches my needs perfectly, its easy to use and is aesthetically pleasing (which Windows 10 wasn't, in my view.) Thanks for another fluent, info rich video, Thio. Always a pleasure to listen to you.

[pavan]

"If you're watching this video you used a computer before"
That was so good😂😂😂

[LarcR]

I have a couple of spare PCs that I use for the Windows Insider program, one on DEV and one on Beta. The DEV channel is more fun since new stuff shows up. Microsoft is smart to do this. They get people to work for them for free.

[Capt-Intrepid]

We are now the beta testers. Here's why: Microsoft changed testing processes significantly in the past few years. Back in 2014/2015, Microsoft employed an entire team that was dedicated to testing the operating system, builds, updates, drivers, and other code. The team consisted of multiple groups that would run tests and discuss bugs and issues in daily meetings. The teams ran the tests on "real" hardware in a lab through automated testing.

Microsoft has since laid off almost the entire Windows Test team. The company moved most of the testing to virtual machines and this meant that tests were no longer conducted on real and diverse hardware configurations. The main sources of testing data comes from Windows Telemetry and Windows Insiders. We are all beta testers now.

[snarkykat]

I'm a developer, but there's no way I would be able to use any of the insider versions of Windows because I want to make sure that my applications run on the versions that end users are most likely to have. Good video, Joe!

[nogoat]

One more difference between the Dev and Beta Channel is that the Dev builds are usually timebombed. This means that the Dev builds will stop working after a certain date.

[ratunkuuu]

Thanks for the time stamps. I still watched the whole thing but saved to watch later in case I need to refresh my memory

[anubhavkumarc]

Been on Dev channel for years, apart from minor glitches its been a fun experience.

[writerpatrick]

Another thing to consider is that you will want to keep all your data like video, pictures, etc. on a separate folder or drive than the default Windows folders. It should be outside Windows so that if you have to reinstall Windows you won't have to move that data around. You will likely have to reinstall the programs you're using though.

[MikeKruzel]

I've been in the insider program since 2014 and submitted alot of feedback and tested Windows 10 on some test desktops, laptops. I've ran into a few installation issues when a new build comes out. It's part of the fun of being in the program but it's not for everyone. I've read feedback where people have joined the program and put their production PCs in the program. Not very smart.

[MK.__]

Bro, you're awesome at explaining things!

[ivinitmittal]

Have used Mine before, must say they're great!!💪🏻

[TonyKelly]

Good video, with good clear guidance. I joined Dev channel today not realising I couldn't go back. However, I managed to go back to Beta channel by clicking on "System recovery go back". I should say I upgraded to windows 11 on 16th February. I then extended "go back" to 60 days. However, I have just checked and "go back" is no longer an option, meaning I can no longer go back to Windows 10, but luckily I was able to come out of Dev channel without a fresh re-install. so good advice from you, be very sure you want to go on Dev channel before doing so.

1

[markoseries]

Been a member of the insider program since 2017.

[RaptorZX]

thanks for the Mine link, it's actually really easy to use, any average joe (no pun intended) can use this.

[techpro]

I would love to see an updated video which covers the new Canary channel and the updated Dev channel.

[unknowxd]

one of the best youtuber ever seen! Love ur content keep it up

[Fearagen]

I would highly recommend joining it on some laptop you don't use much or Virtual Machine. A lot of issues can occur and ruin your experience on your main machine. Since Windows 11 is fully out there isn't really a reason to join the insider preview at this point.

[Vern_Levine]

It isn't worth it if you value stability. I've tried being an insider a bunch of times over the years as I like being an early adopter. I finally had enough of it last year with all the prerelease bugs that really screwed my system up. I'm content to just wait until the bugs are all fixed AFTER the final release comes out and MS decides to finally fix the bugs that were there in the prerelease version. I haven't even tried Windows 11 yet, I'm going to wait for bug fixes for a few months.