Microsoft's head of the Windows Insider Program has said there will be no new Fast Ring builds in 2016. Dona Sarkar took to twitter to confirm the development branch previews are now wrapped until 2017. Essentially, the Windows teams is not confident enough with current builds. Instead of leaving users running buggy builds over the holidays, Microsoft pulled the plug early.
“We don't love the current options & don't want to leave you in a bad state during the holidays,” Dona Sarkar explained in a tweet.
Christmas is only just over a week away. Fast Ring releases are often unstable and buggy. Microsoft usually solves these bugs, but the Holiday Season will likely mean the company is slower with fixes. Users will be left with buggy builds for too long, the company reasons. We think it's a pretty understandable situation.
#WindowsInsiders: no more builds this week. We don't love the current options & don't want to leave you in a bad state during the holidays.
— Dona Sarkar at #AbilitySummit (@donasarkar) December 15, 2016
Of course, when 2017 is underway Microsoft will resume Windows 10 releases to the Fast Ring as normal.
Windows 10 Creators Update Development
As it stands, and for the remainder of 2016, the final Fast Ring release was Windows 10 PC build 14986. That preview was released back on December 8. Windows Insiders on the Fast Ring will have to make do with that build for the next few weeks.
All development branch updates these days are working towards Microsoft's Windows 10 Creators Update. That feature update will arrive in the spring. The company debuted the build at an event in October and since has been putting the numerous Creators Update features to the test.
Fast Ring users have been testing those features, still in their early stages. The Windows Insider Program is hugely important to Microsoft's development of all Windows 10 builds. Expect the Creators Update features to come thick and fast in the coming months as Microsoft works towards launch.
