Microsoft is once again revamping how its Windows Insider program works. Today, the company announced the creation of a new Canary channel as well as a reboot of the Dev channel, with no changes to the Beta and Release Preview channels.

“The new Canary Channel is going to be the place to preview platform changes that require longer-lead time before getting released to customers. Some examples of this include major changes to the Windows kernel, new APIs, etc.” Microsoft explained today.

If you think this sounds a lot like the current purpose of the Dev Channel, you’re not wrong. “This is very similar to what we’ve been flighting to the Dev Channel in the past,” Microsoft acknowledged. “And like the Dev Channel, some of the changes we try out in the Canary Channel will never ship, and others could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.”

All Insiders in the Dev Channel will be moved to the new Canary channel starting today. Microsoft will notify users about the automatic channel migration by email and via a pop notification. If you want to switch to another channel, you’ll need to perform a clean install.

Insiders on the Canary Channel will continue to receive 25000 series builds that are “hot off the presses,” meaning there’s a higher risk of encountering issues that may in some rare cases require a reinstall. Microsoft also says that it may “ramp up releasing builds more frequently in the future,” though not the point of flighting new builds every day.

One last note about the new Canary channel: There may not be detailed release notes for every new build. “We will offer limited documentation for the Canary Channel, but we will not publish a blog post for every flight – only when new features are available in a build,” Microsoft said.

That’s it for the Canary channel, which will pretty much replace what the Dev channel was for until today. The Dev channel, however, is being “rebooted” and it will now target Insiders who are “hungriest to try out new features and experiences.” It’s also Microsoft’s recommended channel for most Insiders, who will receive builds from the 23000 series.

“This will be the place where we incubate new ideas and preview new features and experiences, not tied to a specific Windows release. In some cases, the concepts that we try with Insiders here will never ship, and others could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready,” Microsoft explained today.

The company added that in some cases, new features will come first to the Canary channel before landing in the Dev channel. However, the latter will “provide better platform stability,” which is why the company is recommending the majority of Insiders join this channel.

Microsoft will also continue to use its Controlled Feature Rollout technology to make some new features only available in some channels. That means that in some cases, a new feature may go live in the Dev channel but not in the Canary channel. “We will only communicate about features that we are purposefully enabling for Insiders to try out and give feedback on,” the company said.

Overall, adding a Canary channel makes things more consistent with other preview programs for Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome. And the new Canary channel is probably a bit easier to understand than the “Alpha” and “Alpha Skip Ahead” rings we used to have in the Windows 10 era. Let us know in the comments what you think of this evolution of the Windows Insider Program.