Opinion: Microsoft needs to refocus on Windows 10 fundamentals, not just new features

[steven36]

By Mary Jo Foley for All About Microsoft

 

 

Microsoft needs to step off the new feature train, at least temporarily, and get Windows 10's reliability and fundamentals back on track.

 

Windows as a service, as it currently exists, isn't working. Microsoft's plan to release two feature updates to Windows 10 annually, as Microsoft has been doing since 2015, is not seen as a plus by many customers. After the debacle around the Windows 10 October Update/1809, the perception that Microsoft has lost control of its Windows 10 update strategy is even more apparent.

 

A quick refresher as to what happened with 1809: Microsoft began rolling it out October 2. Some early adopters saw their photos, files, bookmarks and other data wiped out after installing the new bits. Microsoft pulled 1809 and is now retesting it with Insiders before starting to push it again to customers.

 

I don't see any signs that Microsoft is ready to throw in the towel on its plan to do two feature updates to Windows 10 for the foreseeable future. The company did toss a bone to Enterprise and Education customers recently, basically enabling them to install just one feature update every other year. But Windows 10 Home and Pro customers didn't get that reprieve.

 

My ZDNet colleague Ed Bott has suggested that Microsoft allow Windows 10 Home users to have a choice whether to apply both Windows 10 feature updates each year or defer and apply just one annually.

 

I think Microsoft needs to go further: It's time for the company to release at least one -- and maybe more -- Windows 10 feature updates that focus exclusively on reliability/fundamentals and not on features. Go back to basics and figure out what's not working before continuing headlong down the "we have hundreds of new features" path. Figure out how to better test OneDrive and Windows 10 together. Work with OEMs to figure out how they can release updated drivers simultaneously with new feature updates, when required.

 

I'm sure no one at Microsoft wants to do this. Who wants to admit a key company initiative isn't working? It's easier to keep on saying "a small subset" of customers are having this problem, so things are basically OK, instead of this approach is not sustainable.

 

 

But even if it's just "one one hundredth of one percent" of customers hitting a particular issue, the optics around Windows 10 quality and reliability are not good.

 

I'm frankly surprised that anyone (other than journalists who need to test products) knowingly "seek" out a new Windows 10 feature build as soon as it is released. (I am sure a number of users do this unknowingly by checking for updates once a new feature update rolls out.) Even after the first two or three or four cumulative updates roll out for a new feature update, I am still leery about putting it on my PC. I know these releases have gone through testing internally at Microsoft and externally through the Insider program, but they still inevitably cause various compatibility and other issues for users right out of the gate. And I just don't have the time, or in many/most cases, the knowledge, to fix what breaks.

 

Speaking of testing, it's widely known that Microsoft let go a bunch of its Windows testers back in 2014, substituting flighting and new unit testing procedures in their stead. I don't think Microsoft will reverse this course and bring back testing as a separate discipline. But they could improve their testing procedures and supporting infrastructure as part of a return to a focus on fundamentals.

 

In order to focus on reliability at this stage in the game, Microsoft would have to commit to making 19H1 or its September 2019 successor a reliability release. Not a Creators Update or an Anniversary Update. A boring, but immensely useful reliability update. And if this works, maybe Microsoft adds a regular reliability update to its Windows 10 servicing strategy, whether it be every other year or even once yearly. (Remember the old "major/minor" Windows release cadence back in the Windows 7 years? Maybe it's time for a comeback.)

 

Earlier this year, Microsoft moved Windows engineering in with the Azure engineering organization, headed by Executive Vice President Jason Zander. Meanwhile, the other half of the Windows team, focused more on "experiences" moved under Executive Vice President Rajesh Jha. There are new Windows sheriffs in town who seem to care about reliability and fundamentals quite a bit. It could be the perfect time for a priority reset.

 

Source

[banned]

If Microsoft had cared about consumer opinion, I might not STILL be using Windows XP today. Feature updates? What "features"? Whatever they are, you're going to need a lot more of them. I have Windows XP through 10 x64 installed on my PC, and for me XP is still the fastest and most productive. Windows 8.1 with classic start menu probably comes in 2nd, but there are many reasons I rarely use it. Windows 10 is just a total disaster and nightmare in my opinion. Thanks for listening Microsoft. /s

 

P.S. - Glad I unplugged my documents disk/ssd before Windows 10 "upgrade". Way to go.

 

 

[steven36]

3 hours ago, banned said:

Glad I unplugged my documents disk/ssd before Windows 10 "upgrade". Way to go.

Glad I ditched windows 10  tell 2023  or they give  consumers  a LTS  release.  I  dual boot a LTS release of  Linux  with Windows 8.1 .. If they don't have it sorted  by 2023 i will ditch windows ..I'm sorry but still you use windows 10.  only reason i could think of to still use xp  is if you have some kind of software you need that want run on Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and i have and old XP PC sitting here that can do that . It's not like I have to have Windows to do what i do on PC, but bad habits are hard to break.

 

 Only time I upgraded Windows 10  was when it 1st  came out to give my PCs a Digital lic  . On  my gateway I already removed Windows and just put Linux on it, but i can put Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 if i wanted  but i dont want too.  I ran Windows 10 on my Dell  with Linux tell right before RS 4 came out . Always  I clean installed windows 10 when I used it,  because upgrades  always mess up the Grub boot menu, so I switch to using Windows 8.1 again.. I dont have to fool with upgrades or clean installs . You can do Linux upgrades without it messing up the Windows boot  . 

 

Even though i'm good at installing OSes and trouble shooting  i get no satisfaction from it unless i'm being paid to do it .. I got tired of testing software for shits and giggles back when i stop uploading warez in 2011 . Only reason i learned Linux was because my Hard drive messed up on my Gateway with the 1st version of Windows 10 and i put in a linux dvd and it  brought it back to life I could watch a movie  and get online with just a  dvd  so i replaced the hard drive and been using Linux every since.