Microsoft has a software quality problem



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Earlier this week, Microsoft released the Windows 10 October 2018 update to the public. After months of testing with Insiders, the company finally began to broadcast it to the general public, giving it an overview of all the new features. Except that … there is a major problem: the update removes the personal files of some users, without any apparent way to recover the missing files.

More than 48 hours after users started reporting the problem, Microsoft withdrew the update of October 2018 while she was investigating the problem. And this highlights a fundamental problem of Microsoft's testing process for Windows.

You see, Microsoft relies primarily on the Windows Insider program to fix bugs in Windows software. As Microsoft develops new updates, such as the October 2018 update, it deploys new features over weeks and months, which are then tested by insiders. Most of the widespread issues related to these new features and updates are usually reported by Windows Insiders, and then resolved by Microsoft before a major update is released.

And then, there are issues that affect only some users, leaving them buried under all the other comments and bug reports in Feedback Hub, the application used by Windows 10 users and insiders for report bugs and suggestions to Redmond. This is exactly what happened with the data deletion problem. Some Windows insiders reported this problem 3 months ago, in the form of rated by Rafael Rivera on Twitter. If you simply open Feedback Hub and search for "deleted documents," you will see several insider reports in which their files were automatically deleted after the installation of the update.

Since these issues are not widespread, most of these insider reports had low positive votes, ranging from 3 to 10. This means that Microsoft probably never even noticed these insider reports. This is the only thing that can explain how such a major problem has been made public – all because of the actual operation of the Insider bug reporting system.

Important questions such as these are often hidden in thousands of other general comments, such as "Change the appearance of File Explorer" or "Add Acrylic to the Explorer." of files ". Although these remarks are valid, they often prevent Microsoft from detecting real problems, which is a fundamental problem for the entire Insider program system. The situation is getting worse considering that Microsoft has reduced the number of independent tests a few years ago, relying mainly on Insiders to test its software.

The Microsoft Windows Insider team will probably find a way to explain it here, but it's more than apparent: the Feedback Hub is simply not able to handle the problems of millions of users, especially when the application is mainly used by fans to provide comments – mainly fueled by their love for the OS. Critical issues are not just buried under fictitious things like users who ask for Acrylic on File Explorer, but they are often so deeply buried that Microsoft's systems do not even detect them, resulting in disasters like this one .

Tagged Feedback Hub, Windows 10 Update October 2018, Windows 10 Version 1809, Windows Insider

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