Microsoft has started releasing Windows 11 builds from the prerelease branch, and they’re coming in the form of full builds.
Today, Microsoft released the first Windows 11 preview that came from the prerelease branch, specifically the rs_prerelease branch. Previously, all of the previews being tested have been for the initial release of the OS, so now the Dev channel has split off as Microsoft has been warning it would do. Things are going to work differently this time though, and it’s a lot more like the Windows Insider Program worked before Windows 10. With these prerelease builds of Windows 11, the previews are going to be full builds of Windows, as opposed to the cumulative updates that we saw previously. Here’s why. Microsoft did most of the building for Windows 11 in secret. By the time the company was ready to announce it, it was ready to ship from the release branch, specifically the co_release branch. The ‘co’ stands for Cobalt, and in line with the periodic table, the next version is Nickel.
