Why Didn't Microsoft Fix This Horrible Bug?

⚜️Not all bugs will be fixed or fixed quickly. Not all bugs are even bugs.

⚜️ Why hasn't this bug been fixed?
Not all bugs get fixed quickly (or ever). Some functions that seem like bugs might be how the software is supposed to work. Fixing bugs can be hard and expensive. Sometimes, the problem is with other software, not Windows. It’s important to find ways to work around issues and stay patient.

Chapters
0:00 Microsoft Bug
0:55 Most important bug ever
1:15 No excuses
2:10 Not to minimize your experience
2:40 Sometimes it’s not a bug
3:55 Sometimes it’s just not that important
5:00 Data loss matters.
5:40 Sometimes it’s not Microsoft’s bug
7:15 Fixing bugs is risky and expensive
8:25 And yet all software has bugs
9:30 We want it perfect, and we want it now
10:15 Oh, and about Bill

More Ask Leo!

#askleo #microsoft #bug

[arnox]

While you make a lot of good points here, and especially when you illustrate how complex testing Windows is, I think it's also incredibly important to realize that modern (Windows 10 and 11 era) Microsoft is still not really faultless at all. They have been directly responsible for the travesty of bugs that have occurred in Windows 10 and 11 due to them almost obliterating their testing division during the development of Windows 10, and these travesties include a bug that actually did cause MASSIVE data loss to consumers. (Microsoft didn't face any repercussions for this by the way.) And it's not just the consumer side. On the corporate side, they've shipped updates that have bricked servers. There's also the fact that though Windows is now more complex than ever, most of that modern complexity is just... Not needed or even wanted with consumers at all. Ask any old Windows veteran and they will tell you that if Windows 7 or even Windows XP still continued to receive driver and security updates, they would still happily use those operating systems to this day.

[creounity]

What's sad is that most of the bugs now are the ones introduced with Windows 11. Like, in 2021 I had little to no issues with Windows 10. After they obliged users to switch to Win 11, literally dozens of issues appeared, which screw up basic functionalities and basic UX (not even some rare stuff), and these issues are not being fixed for years. And yes, this indeed frustrates a lot!

[Anonymous-mfii]

A company can be too responsive to bug fix requests.
Years ago we were using a software package that had a function which worked correctly, but had an error in the documentation. They issued a bug fix that made the program work as described in the erroneous documentation, and I had to change that program to revert to the correct behavior. The next software “update” fixed the documentation and rolled back the software change.

[azrobbins]

That's not what I wanted to hear! I want to know how to make them do what I want, and right now!

[MikaelKKarlsson]

It's funny how people complain about Bill when he left the company(operatively) about two decades ago.

Reminds me a little bit of McAfee. (RIP you crazy diamond)

[graytonw]

I don't blame Bill, I blame Ballmer. 😀 Seriously though, the longer you work with computers, the more philosophical you become about it. I have rarely run across "showstopper" bugs in the OS or applications, and I've usually found a workaround. Sometimes you just shrug your shoulders and deal with it, because that's the nature of the business when it comes to software. Regarding the difficulty in fixing bugs, I remember an old PBS documentary series called The Machine That Changed The World. In one episode, a Microsoft developer was talking about how abstract it is just to write software in the first place, and he said that building software is much more complex than building a DC 10, because when there's a design problem with the plane, it's often related to its physical proximity and is much easier to track down and fix, but with software the problem could be literally anywhere in the code. When you think about how an operating system or application can contain literally millions of lines of code, you begin to appreciate (as Leo said) how well it even works at all.

[txkflier]

As many different pieces of hardware and software as there are, it’s a miracle that Windows works as well as it does. But, some people really do need to put their computer back in the box, return it, and go do something else.

[blsboom-fffq]

I guess you're not referring to Windows 10 or 11 as "the horrible bug"?!

[robertsteinbach]

Bill Gates last wrote code, Microsoft Basic, for the TRS-80 Model 100/Tandy 102 Portable Computer sold in the mid 1980's.

[roberthenry]

A lot of bugs get fixed by 3rd part without breaking anything but we are told not to use those due to security risks

[johnc]

In my working years, I've seen a lot of software come and go. When Office 95 and its later iteration came along -- and people were transitioning from older software (e.g., WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, and so on), users were complaining about all the "bugs" and other functions that were "no longer available" or processes that could just not be done. After I completed my Microsoft certification courses, I realized what I suspected all along: It was just plain ignorance that created most of the uproar. Yes, the older program may have had a function or feature no longer present, but it was more likely that the user just didn't want to actually learn the new software. I was a fan of the older software, but I came to realize that the new Office products were very powerful, indeed, and could run circles around the older stuff, once you sat down and spent the energy learning the new, instead of wasting that time and energy sounding off about how the older software was so much better. "No, it's not buggy software, it's you."

[JeffRyman]

I have seen an interview with Dave Cutler, the architect of VAX VMS, who came from DEC to be the architect of Windows. He mentioned that when DEC initially shipped VMS it had no KNOWN bugs. It's a shame he couldn't enforce that attitude at Microsoft.

[nprA]

Billy boy is too busy being a doctor across the world to worry anymore about Windows.

[basit]

annouynace, bug & system crash Issue, security Issue... all treated differently but sometimes MS ignores serious problem from all of above...

[gruntaxeman]

In practice, there are software where bugs are pretty much non-existent. Also there are software that are very carefully audited and maintained for long time that bugs are rare.

[jameshurley]

Horrible bug.... pretty much everything after win 7

[randyriegel]

Bugs are in all software. But a lot of people that don't know how to use a product call it a bug. I worked on one fix on an application and I thought it worked well.... so sent it to QA Department. QA Passed it... But then found a bug after deployed. Someone at company was pissed. My boss said "Don't get on Randy get on QA Dept that passed it... that's what their for.". And it was minor... nothing that had to do with anything. It happens.

[Paulzpc]

You know the keyboard shortcut to turn the screen upside down? I discovered it by accident and I thought it was a bug, it took me a whole day to get the screen back to normal and for the longest time I thought it was a bug, I even called MS support and they chuckled..haha oh just do this and the screen will come back, but they never told me why this would be something a user would want unless your head is turned upside down how useful is this?, to this day I consider it a keyboard short cut bug.

[gotbordercollies]

On my PCs. Which I updated to windows 11 pro, won't let me connect to the phone link app. This is the most horrible bug in my world.

[verdedoodleduck]

Good subject. Speaking of 'features' that I am surprised didn't get fixed is the rotation option in file explorer. I use Sketchbook (formerly from autodesk) and it writes .tif files with special record(s) that contains all of the real data. I found out the hard way that the rotation button destroys the underlying data. Considering it is data loss (potentially on a large scale if you have a lot of files selected) I am puzzled that there isn't a warning or to have the feature fixed to retain the opaque data. I guess not too many people have .tif files with this condition so that's probably why it's still hanging out as a feature.