I read the announcement quickly, and it sounded to me like Frontier was taking over, but there's more to this change. The summary says Targeted release is "replaced by Frontier, Standard, and Deferred release options", and the action list asks you to enroll users who need early access to preview experiences. If Frontier were the replacement, that would be a real problem. Targeted release lets admins and pilot users see features that are definitely coming, so they can work out deployment and impact. Frontier is Microsoft trying out ideas that may change completely or never ship.
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The detail on Microsoft Learn tells a different story. The guidance for "Targeted release for select users" is to put the organization on Deferred release and add your pilot group as Standard release exceptions, and Frontier isn't part of that mapping at all. What's actually happening is that the release model Copilot already uses is being extended to Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook and Office for the web.
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However, the replacement pilot ring isn't like for like. Deferred only applies to "major updates", which Microsoft defines with a list of examples (help desk impact, customizations, capacity, where data is stored). A useful new feature that doesn't disrupt anything may not qualify, so your pilot group sees it the same day as everyone else. The pilot is capped at 100 users, and giving them a head start now means holding the rest of the organization back by about 30 days. Government clouds get Standard release only.
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Then there's this line, repeated across the Learn pages: "Users who are opted in to Frontier receive eligible Microsoft 365 features before general availability." It reads like Targeted release with a new name, the same features, just sooner. Frontier hasn't worked that way up until now, and there's nothing to indicate it's being changed. The =COPILOT function in Excel was retired from Frontier in September (MC1454373), the SharePoint Page Agent (Frontier) is being retired now (MC1481325), and Cowork went from Frontier access to usage-based billing at GA. Frontier now covers "AI and non-AI features" too, under preview terms (no SLA, and other limitations).
I'm all for simplification, but in working out how to apply this change there's significant complexity. The overwhelming message I hear from the community is that organizations and M365 practitioners want to better understand what changes are going to be hitting tenants before they arrive. It's great to see work being done to address this requirement, but I'm not sure this arrangement entirely fits that goal as outlined today.
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If you run a Targeted release pilot today, is a 30-day head start on major updates enough to replace it? And will you know whether your users are validating a feature or trialing one?
First posted on Linkedin on 10/12/2026 → View Linkedin Post Here