‘to err is human, to do it often takes Microsoft’ - unknown

The top story this morning on the Computer World website is the non-start of the Windows XP Service Pack Release. The details have already been disseminated through other channels, but for those not rabid about details, the SP3 code causes data loss with one of Microsoft’s retail business packages.

Now this is not new for this company. The amount of screw ups that have gotten through is large, and has never seemed to get better. In fact, the amount of bad code that gets through is seems to be going up geometrically, when the amount of code released is not expanding anywhere near that rate.

Certain things are to be expected, and no software will ever be perfect.

That is where the slack getting cut stops.

While no one could blame Microsoft for a problem with some  little known piece of software, this is a problem with code developed in house. This is indicative that perhaps the people are 1) getting sloppy with testing 2) unaware of things produced throughout the company, and 3) those in charge of final approval are not earning their bloated salaries. Microsoft has always had a bad habit of releasing code too early, and being known for rushing large projects out the door.

Is it time for someone in charge to open a major can of whoop-ass? I think so. Who else releases code, on their own time table, yet not ready for prime time? I can think of no one. If their size and market share prove anything, it is that we, the audience, will have to wait for them when counting on release dates.

It is time to quit catering to the stockholders, allowing their crimping of the time table, and releasing bad code. With each gaffe that Microsoft makes, the more people move to Linux or Mac platforms. It may only be a small amount now, but like the snowball, the downhill run increases mass rapidly.

Besides, why would they want to stain the Microsoft reputation any further?

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Tags: microsoft, service pack 3, bad code, time tables for release, testing procedures