Enter Vanguard - Radeon™ Software Beta Tester Program Web Page Simply put, AMD developers have made a new site and are looking for feedback on your Radeon™ Software experience. They would like you to register and give them feedback on any topic you choose. https://gaming.radeon.com/en-us/radeonsoftware/crimson-relive/vanguard/
Closed beta testing. It will be nice to have this kind of program, it will definitely help to reduce numbers of users that are still crying and bitc*ing on forums.
Pretty much going to chime in the same thing that Krteq said, except put slightly another way. Think of this like Windows 10 in the early early days prior to the initial launch whenever there was no fast / slow ring distinction, and then later on with different editions branching out post launch ... OR alternatively like Linux distros and LTS branches: [oversimplified w/ Windows] Consumer: (internal testing) -- Microsoft *fast-ring *slow-ring (considered stable) Business: *enterprise / LTS-style (held back even longer) *server edition (or akin to RHEL) If someone actually wants to test drivers, then they're going to probably apply to test them [speaking of the people who will legitimately submit feedback, not just people looking to run the bleeding edge]. Having these drivers spill out over everyone assumes that everyone wants to be a tester, yet we know that's not actually true and that the majority of people prefer stability. [by looking at the number of users in the Linux and Windows world who run LTS branches vs the forefront] -Closed beta actually gives you more choice rather than less, since with a testing branch and explicit betas (not talking WHQL vs non WHQL), this eliminates confusion over what drivers are considered 'stable' or not. Aka, it makes it easy to get the latest stable release. (where people can ignore WHQL signing) I'm pretty sure that no sane company will deny anyone being a tester who applies and legitimately wants to help test.
I can confirm Fullinfusion is part of the Vanguard program, with that said I don't know why he would mention "lots of fixes". We tested drivers 17.8.2 and now we're preparing for the next set. We didn't test drivers with huge differences from the public 17.8.2, we weren't given drivers with "lots of fixes". We're also not supposed to say we're in the program. Or mention anything about the drivers - including fixes. You don't want to give people false hopes if something breaks again before release, or only fix stuff for a few people. I think maybe he just got a little too excited about being invited in the program.