Microsoft names Windows veteran Amanda Langowski as new Insider chief

Microsoft hasn't had an official head of its Windows Insider test program since October 2019. Today, March 23, officials remedied that situation with the appointment of Amanda Langowski as the new lead of the Windows Insider program.

Langowski has been with Microsoft for 20 years, starting with her coordinating beta programs for Windows. More recently, she has been leading the Flighting Platform Team, which is responsible for publishing OS and related updates based on quality signals and timing. She also was a principal program manager lead for Engineering Services for the Windows & Devices Group and worked on Windows Phone and Windows Mobile release management in her time at Microsoft, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Microsoft Chief Product Officer Panos Panay -- who, as of February, also became head of the Windows Experiences (client) side of the business -- will be working "hand in hand" with Langowski on improving communication with legacy Insiders and "growing the diversity of our community to ensure more customers are reflected in the products we're building together," Panay said in today's blog post.

Langowski will be the third head of the Insider program since Microsoft created it in 2014. Gabe Aul, who now works at Facebook as Vice President of Virtual Reality Engineering, was the first Insider chief. Dona Sarkar, who left her Insider chief role in October 2019 to work in the Microsoft Developer Relations team as Principal Advocate for the Power Platform, was the second.

Microsoft says there are approximately 18 million individuals signed up as Windows Insiders, but currently, a much smaller number are actively and regularly testing Windows features that are under development, my contacts say. The Insider program has been testing consumer, business and Server features over the past few years and is expected to continue to do so. In 2018, Microsoft was ready to launch a Microsoft 365 Insider program, which was supposed to be an evolution of the Windows Insider for Business arm of the test program, but that didn't end up materializing.

There's no word yet as to when and how Panay and Langowski will make changes to the Insider testing Rings or any other aspects of the program.