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What is the Microsoft Edge “insider” channel?

From time to time we know about future news in Microsoft Edge, the Microsoft web browser, thanks to its insiders program, an open beta with which those from Redmond allow all those users who want to try the latest news and, in the same way, In this way, it gets an enormous amount of feedback about its performance. It is a win-win model for both parties, and in which users can participate whenever they want and, in the same way, leave when they no longer want to.

Unlike what happens with the Windows insiders program, in which case we have to use a non-final version of the operating system, the great advantage of trying a previous version of Microsoft Edge is that we can, on the same system, make it coexist with the final version, that is, we can have both versions without interfering with each other and, in this way, use at all times the one we want.

In this regard, it is best to use the stable version on a regular basis and reserve the previous version only for specific moments, since its operation will never be as reliable as that of the final one. However, at this point it is also important to clarify that not all versions are equally reliable.

This is a very important point, and there are quite a few people who do not know that there are several versions of Microsoft Edge in the insiders channel, and that we can install one or more in our system. Personally, if you are curious, at least at the beginning I recommend that you start with just one, and only later consider if you want to have some more, to be able to compare the performance between them.

what is channel "insider" from Microsoft Edge?

As we can see on the download page, these are the three channels of the Microsoft Edge insiders program:

beta channel: It is the most stable of the three and, therefore, the most recommended for users who are less experienced in using beta versions of software and services, since they will hardly notice any differences with respect to the final version, except for a certain advance in arrival of many of its functions. It is updated every four weeks.

Dev Channel: at this point, and especially if you are a Windows insider, the name may confuse you, since in this case the Dev channel is the intermediate option, that is, less stable than the Beta channel but more than the channel Canary. It is more likely that we will find a bug than in Beta but, of course, it also advances functions that may take time to reach the most stable version. It is updated weekly.

canary channel: This channel is, as I have indicated before, the most unstable of the three, that is, the one comparable to the Windows Dev channel. Failures are relatively frequent, many functions are incorporated that have not yet been completed and it is, for example, the one I go to every day waiting for the new Edge with Prometheus. It is only recommended for testing and is updated daily.

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