Every day is a little less for the arrival of Windows 11. October is, or at least everything points to it, the time chosen by Microsoft to start the deployment of its new operating system. Thus, as we have been quoting you for some time, the latest test versions, released on the various channels for insiders, seem quite complete and, moreover, are show very stable, from which we can deduce that everything is already well advanced.
This, added to the natural curiosity of the human being, has led many Windows 10 users to join the Windows 11 insiders program, and being one of the first to try a new operating system is something that is quite attractive for many people (including myself). What’s more, Microsoft makes it very, very easy to join this program. Any user with an active Windows 10 license can join in a few minutes.
The problem is that many people, driven by curiosity and faced with the stability shown by the development version of Windows 11 in the program, have decided to join the development channel. And although it is to be expected that most of them have done it on devices intended exclusively for testing, not on their everyday computers, we can put our hand on the fire that there are also a good part of users who are using the development version of Windows 11 on your personal devices.
However, that nice stability that the development version of Windows 11 provides today is tremendously temporary. Why? Well, because we are talking about builds of version 21H1 of the operating system, which is the one that developers work on today. However, it is most likely that in the short term, in a few weeks, Microsoft will conclude the development of Windows 11 21H1 and at that time start working on version 22H1.
At that moment, functions will begin to be added, changes will take place and, consequently, the stability currently offered by Dev channel builds will become history. And it is the most normal thing in the world, of course, because it is still a trial version and, at that moment, there will be many things that will begin to be tested and, consequently, there will also be many things that can fail and go wrong . Let’s not forget, that’s what software testing is all about.
This will not be a problem for users who are testing the latest builds of Windows 11 on a dedicated PC, or on a virtual machine. However, all those users who are in the development channel on a PC on which their work, leisure, etc. depend, they can start to get upset from one moment to the next, so they should leave that channel immediately (unless they are not worried about losing their files, having to reinstall the operating system, etc.).
When you sign up for the Windows Insiders Program, users are informed that it has multiple channels, ranging from lowest to highest reliability. For Windows 11, currently, we can find the following, with these descriptions:
- Development channel: Ideal for very technical users. Be the first to access the latest builds of Windows 11 earlier in the development cycle and with the latest code. There will be some problems and low stability.
- Beta channel (recommended): Ideal for early adopters. These builds of Windows 11 will be more reliable than builds from our dev channel with updates validated by Microsoft. Your comments have the biggest impact here.
- Version preview channelIdeal if you want to preview fixes and certain key features, as well as get optional access to the next version of Windows 10 before it is generally available to everyone. This channel is also recommended for commercial users.
As you can see, the beta channel delivers more refined versions of Windows 11. Stability is not guaranteed, of course, but its compilations yes they have already gone through the controls with which Microsoft tries to determine that they are reliable. The preview one, meanwhile, may offer access to Windows 10 21H2 for now, but as soon as Windows 11 is released, if you upgrade, it will give you a multi-week preview of the final builds.
If at the time you joined as an insider to be able to test Windows 11 on your personal or professional PC, and you are not sure which channel you are on, the best thing you can do is access Windows settings and check it from there. And if you are in the development channel, it is best to leave it immediately. Instead, the beta channel will give you a more reliable environment, without having to give up being a couple of steps ahead of most.
More information: Microsoft
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