Today, Microsoft rolled out its latest Windows 10 Insider Preview, build 11082, the first from its Redstone development branch (RS1). The new build is available now for Insiders enrolled on the Fast ring for new builds - but as many will already be aware, there have been times when the Fast ring has felt a little... slow.
Indeed, the wait between builds can sometimes last for several weeks - but Microsoft"s Gabe Aul said today that users should now "prepare for Faster Fast ring builds". Acknowledging the demand among users for more regular releases, Gabe said today:
We’ve been considering how we want to respond to this feedback, and in January we expect to pick up the pace. To do this, we are re-evaluating the ring promotion criteria to allow more builds to reach Windows Insiders. The new criteria will be much closer to our criteria for flighting to our internal rings, which means more builds will pass it and be released externally to the Fast ring.
Inevitably, though, faster deployments will mean that the builds that are released are likely to have more problems, given the more limited time available to rectify issues before their deployment:
This also means however that the builds we release to the Fast ring may include more bugs and other issues that could be slightly more painful for some people to live with. It’s a tradeoff – as the thing that throttles the rate of builds is the promotion criteria.
If you"re not prepared to deal with that, Gabe recommends that you get out of the Fast lane:
If you aren’t completely comfortable with this change then I encourage you to switch to the Slow ring to remain on more stable builds going forward. You can do this by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced options and under “Get Insider Preview builds” moving the slider to the Slow ring.
Are you looking forward to more regular Fast ring releases? Or are you planning to switch down to the Slow ring, to enjoy more stable preview builds? Let us know in the comments below.