Microsoft’s Windows 10 Version 1809 Mea Culpa Is Just Empty Talk

[nir]

And it’s time for Microsoft to actually begin doing what it’s been promising to users for so many years

Microsoft has finally re-released Windows 10 version 1809 after more than one month of work on resolving OS bugs that weren’t supposed to be there in the first place.

Technically, the experience with the October update should be substantially more refined now, and Microsoft says it’s using a more cautious approach in order to push it only to devices that are fully supported.

In a mea culpa post on the Windows blogs, Michael Fortin, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of the Windows division, tries to provide users with a closer look at how the Windows team works on ironing out bugs in OS updates, while also promising to prevent a similar fiasco in the future.

However, this mostly apologetic post includes several questionable and debatable statements which once again shows that Microsoft should stop making promises and instead focus on actually making all these improvements happen in Windows.

First and foremost, Fortin starts by putting the emphasis on how large the Windows ecosystem really is, with a hidden message that suggests bugs aren’t something that unexpected given how many devices and different configurations are out there. Fortin explains that new drivers, firmware, app updates, and security updates are rolled out every day, which makes Microsoft’s mission of ensuring a smooth experience in Windows even more difficult.

The Microsoft exec goes on to say that the April 2018 Update has the biggest Net Promoter Score of any version of Windows 10. This is a ratio between promoters and detractors, as Fortin puts it, and it shows just how smoothly the April update rollout was for most users.

Yet, Fortin seems to ignore the fact that the April 2018 Update was actually delayed at the very last minute due to a critical bug somehow not discovered as part of the Windows Insider program. He also doesn’t mention the plethora of bugs that hit this particular release and which made the whole upgrade process a nightmare for many users.

Like version 1809, the April update came with a wide variety of glitches, including freezing bugs, explorer.exe crashes, SSD compatibility issues, battery problems, black screens, and antivirus compatibility errors. Despite some of them have never been acknowledged by Microsoft, there were lots of user who reported all of these, and many of the posts were published on the company’s Community forums and on the Feedback Hub.

Moving on, Fortin says Microsoft is all about feedback, and says on several occasions that the company listens to user feedback as this is the “approach to product quality.”

Ironically, the bug that caused user files stored in libraries to be removed during the update to Windows 10 version 1809 was actually reported to the company before the launch of the update. And it was posted right in the Feedback Hub, which is the platform Microsoft recommends for sending feedback.

A few weeks ago, it was discovered that several other issues that were hitting version 1809 systems were actually discovered while the update was still in preview stage, but for some reason, Microsoft left them unfixed and shipped the October update with those bugs included.

“  “Employees working on Windows run the latest internal versions on their machines to ensure they are living with Windows,” Fortin says.  ”

Well, while this is probably true, it certainly doesn’t look like it is. The experience with Windows 10 version 1809 has been far from flawless, so if so many employees were running this update, how come it received the go-ahead?

Then, the Microsoft executive puts the emphasis on the Windows Insider program.

“  “Insider populations are balanced between pre-release and release preview versions that receive cumulative quality updates for drivers and many applications.”  ”

And yet, somehow the Windows 10 October 2018 Update was published without the RTM build shipped to insiders in the Release Preview ring. It was the first time Microsoft skipped a build, and it was believed to be a sign that the company considered this release reliable enough for production devices.

“  “The first principle of a feature update rollout is to only update devices that our data shows will have a good experience,” Fortin says.  ”

If this is true, how come version 1809 was shipped to PCs across the world with so many bugs? Was that the “good experience” they were supposed to get?

“  “While we will always work diligently to eliminate issues before rollout, there is always a chance an issue may occur. When this happens, we strive to minimize the impact and respond quickly and transparently to inform and protect our customers,” the company exec adds.  ”

Where was this focus on transparency during the last month? Microsoft pulled the update in early October and it remained almost fully tight-lipped on everything related to it. Plus, an ETA has never been provided, leaving customers whose devices were already running version 1809 all alone in their struggle with all the bugs.

Fortin ends the post by promising to improve transparency and update quality in the long term, but certainly, this doesn’t mean anything to those whose devices are eventually hit by issues. This isn’t the first time Microsoft promises to do better in the future and it is certainly not the last.

But what Microsoft needs to do is to actually stop failing us. We’re already in the point where we get October updates in November, and this isn’t only frustrating, but embarrassing for Microsoft in the first place.

“  “We are working on many fronts to ensure our customers have the best, most secure experience on Windows. While we do see positive trends, we also hear clearly the voices of our users who are facing frustrating issues, and we pledge to do more.”  ”

Source