Microsoft had some time back paused its October 2018 Update to fix some issues. This raised eyebrows as this was the first time update was pulled back and paused temporarily. Microsoft has now re-released the October 2018 and has also given us a glimpse of how the company validates Windows quality before release.
Windows Update quality getting better
Microsoft claims to work continuously to improve the quality of Windows and deliver on their Windows as a Service approach. Windows quality is of paramount as the entire Windows ecosystem depends on it. Currently, Windows 10 has more than 700 million monthly active devices and 16 million unique hardware/driver combination.
The Shift to Windows as a Service
As most of us are already aware, Microsoft opted to offer Windows as a service. This meant that the responsibility of base functional testing was assigned to the development team. Furthermore, the focus of the team was changed in order to address feedback born from consumer experiences. According to Microsoft this combination of testing, engagement programs, feedback, telemetry, real-life insight spread across various modules.
Continued product quality improvement trend
Microsoft keeps track of Customer Incident Rate for each release. The graph above shows how the Customer Incident Rate has dropped to a very low level in the recent releases. To increase the quality, Microsoft invests in customer and partner planning feedback. That apart the company also deploys a variety of automated testing processes which help them detect and fix issues quickly.
Microsoft also has key testing partners to validate in-market and in-development releases in large scale. The list of key testing partners include
- External testing labs with global, continuous coverage for application compatibility, hardware, and peripherals
- ISVs for a range of apps including Anti-Virus (AV)
- OEMs partner with us to test and ensure quality across a vast array of systems, devices, and drivers
The graph above is a testimony to Microsoft’s commitment. It shows the number of drivers deployed in each month and June tops the list with 15000 drivers.
In a nutshell, the folks at Microsoft have set up an extensive testing environment to make sure that the final release is bug-free and works as intended.
Pretty sure (@ the author) Windows Phone will not be the most preferred OS in the world, ever…
As far as lowered incident reporting over time: Of course, people get fed up with Windows 10 and stop complaining. They find complaining does nothing to fix problems with Windows 10.
Eg. A user of Windows 10 on a popular Lenovo laptop goes to update their bluetooth mouse driver and suddenly loses the ability to actually USE any brand or model of bluetooth mouse. Newer proprietary wireless (not bluetooth) mice install and work, but the bluetooth mice install and then just do nothing… (To be honest and accurate, during the detection phase there is a second or two where the bluetooth mouse actually works, then Microsoft disables it with their “universal” bluetooth driver)
This behavior was after the 1607 update.
That was a long time ago.
There are forums all over the internet with users complaining, and yet over a year ago many of us lost the ability to use any type of bluetooth mouse.
You know what Microsoft said: Buy a new mouse.
Sadly, there are new bluetooth mice that still won’t work, and may never again.
Microsoft would rather we bought only a Microsoft mouse or one with a proprietary radio and USB dongle… Anything but actually fixing their breaking of mouse use over bluetooth.
I, for one, complained about them turning several hundred dollars worth of mice into useless garbage… And over a year later they try to convince us that there are less and less complaints… (Seems one of the USA political parties likes to lie about things and hope you never check facts… Check the facts)
Okay, so the mice still work in Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows XP, Android, and most Linuxes if not all ..
I almost exclusively use Android/Linux now because Microsoft chose to force me to replace perfectly good hardware by breaking bluetooth for mouse use.
It’s amazing how software made for Windows will actually run as good as or betterbluethn run in the Linux operating system under an application known as WINE. It’s more every day.
Thanks to Microsoft I play on PS4 (anything but xbox or other Microsoft hardware) so I know my wireless controllers won’t stop working when they decide to push people into hardware “upgrades” that aren’t actually upgrades…
Most work software I need runs as apps in Android on various devices.
You know what? I haven’t complained to Microsoft in over a year, and they would take that to mean there are less problems with their OS because there are less complaints .. not a very accurate way of polling for satisfaction.
Microsoft is that same shade of blue that reported Hillary was way ahead of Trump, and their money goes that way too, for the most part.
That’s public knowledge, verifiably, only to demonstrate they swing that way.