With the recent news that Microsoft will not release a second beta but will instead move Windows 7 directly into release candidate stage, several Windows testers have become a tad bit disgruntled. They claim that due to a lack of test builds, they cannot properly test Windows 7 to see if the bugs they submitted have been fixed. As a result, Steven Sinofsky simply replied: email me your concerns.
On a post GeekSmack, Windows tester Chris123NT explained how the lack of test builds and the speed with which Microsoft is moving towards RTM for Windows 7 is limiting testers’ abilities to check if their bugs are fixed. While he acknowledges that the Windows team is getting lots of feedback data through the Windows 7 beta, that’s not enough, he claims. “That won’t fix rogue usability issues, or odd app incompatibility issues, or driver issues etc,” Chris123NT writes, “So if anyone from the beta team reads this, please rethink your strategy and think about releasing some more builds for testing. It can’t hurt, it can only help the end product.”
Steven Sinfosky actually replied directly in the thread, and asked the disgruntled testers to contact him directly with any concerns they might have. “Feel free to email me the specifics of what you think we’re not listening to,” Sinofsky writes, “We’re trying hard to be inclusive of folks with the broad beta – we’re getting a lot more coverage than we would have previously in limited technical betas.”
With previous Windows releases, testers (not the public) would often get monthly code drops so that they could see how their bugs were doing and if progress was being made. With Windows 7, this is no longer the case, and hence the dissatisfaction. The testers may certainly have a point; with only one more RC to go before RTM, it makes you wonder how Microsoft is going to catch all the bugs. It might not be a bad idea to release a few closed test releases to please the test crowd and catch some last-minute bugs.
Then again, with every build being leaked to torrent sites, the point might be moot.
It’s certainly a sensible demand, as people want to test with Windows 7 and find out of their stuff works and if there is anything that will cause a problem. The fact that even testers are getting nothing is a concern.
However, Microsoft is currently a very heavy freight train steaming towards a Windows 7 release. They really want Vista swept under the carpet as soon as possible to get people, and especially businesses, upgrading. Sinofsky’s extremely vague reply that says “Don’t call us, we’ll call you” doesn’t convince me otherwise. The lack of testing availability and point releases only cements my view that Microsoft is using ployfilla on what they know is already wrong with Vista to get 7 out as soon as possible.
This is extremely unfortunate, because rushing out 7 without making it rock-solid bears the danger of another “Vista disaster”.
Perhaps it won’t be a mess “a la vista”, but it sounds like they are hurrying it up as much as possible to get Güin 7 out the door as soon as possible. Hope it doesn’t backslash the way Vista did (as a mater of fact, as a GNU/linux advocate, I hope they totally screw it up…. but let’s just be cynical, ok? ;-))
There is absolutely no need to test Windows 7.
Windows 7 will end up being preinstalled on most computers sold all over the world. So people will buy it anyway. The companies already paid for software that runs on Windows. They need Windows to run the software. Also everybody runs Windows so they want to be compatible. The companies will buy Windows anyway.
Besides, if Microsoft makes a good product they won’t sell much support because it is not needed.
Windows users just got used to Vista. Why show them how bad Vista was?
Why would Microsoft want to release a good product? That will force them to make the next release good too.
i wonder, when all the hype has died down, people will realise that windows 7 was rushed out to cover the vista failure?
by the way – has anyone considered that microsoft may themselves be behind some of the online “buzz” – its not unheard of for companies to pay others to influence forums, blogs and the like…
Here comes Vista Epsisode 2: The Repeat of History
I don’t recall seeing anything from microsoft saying they are committing to only releasing 1 RC before RTM.. if bugs are found in RC1, I don’t see why they wouldn’t consider releasing a RC2 build…so far even with the public beta of windows 7 that was released and was compiled in december, it seems to be very stable and I have had no problems with it..
Thank you, finally someone said it.
There will NOT only be 1 RC. MS has never told us that and has hinted at likley 2 RC before being set to the OEM’s and then released as GM.
BUT, the public got it’s taste with the beta and will not be recieving anything else, as the RC builds are going ot be really really close to finished (the beta I am using is practically RC worthy, if not RC worthy).
There will likely be an anouncement frmo MS tomorrow morning about this. But thats all I can say. Just look at the windows 7 dev blog tomorrow morning.
So when Debian after almost two years of work releases a new version of their operating system, this is a page 2 story http://www.osnews.com/story/20983/Debian_5_Lenny_Released/ because the topic had already been covered. At the same time, Windows gets a top story just to report that nothing happens. Who has the same difficulties as me understanding the balance here?
One is an OS used by thousands of people in the world. The other is an OS used by millions of people in the world.
There’s your balance.
“Thousands”? I was talking about Debian, which has 23,000 software packages alone, maintained by something like 1,000 devs (and certainly more users than packages) and which is the basis of Ubuntu and countless other distributions. If they had put Arch Linux, LinuxMint, Xandros, Linspire or one of the countless others on page two I certainly wouldn’t have complained. But his was about Debian.
Ah, of course. The powers that be forbid we don’t all bow down to the mighty Debian project. Good grief, and you Debian lovers complain about the Apple trolls and Microsoft shills?
The page 2 story was a *version release announcement*, a release that, a few days before, had already been covered extensively on page 1. This is not information about a new Windows 7 build, this is information that Microsoft’s lack of public builds is frustrating those who wish to test it. See the difference?
Edited 2009-02-22 02:48 UTC
I sure hope they do. Vista is a failure compared to the Public Beta of Windows 7 which trumps Vista in every way.
As stated by some already, the Public Beta is RC worthy and one would assume that the RC MS does put out to be a better package. There will be some issues but on the whole I have found the Public Beta to be a good OS release and compatable with everything I have required form it.
I hope that Microsoft has success with this newest version. I just don’t want to sound like those Linux “geeks” but for many ….. Windows is really becoming irrelevant. Since fully committing to Linux (Ubuntu) I read all about this new version of Windows and think how glad I made the switch. I’d never go back.
I have posted a couple bugs to the windows group, and I can say they were fixed, apparently from the update site.
Perhaps they have a different way of dealing with most bugs these days.
Considering all the rough edges present in windows 7 and how unprofessional some of the displayed text and dialog windows appear- a far cry from win95/98/2000, not releasing any further betas is tantamount to cocky arrogance on the part of Microsoft. I sincerely hope they climb down from their arrogance and give users a chance to help them make a better product.
I am using the build 7000 all day long, and it is becoming annoying to always need to manually refresh the Windows-Explorer windows because even sometimes a handful of new files just don’t show until I manually refresh the window. With the XP-SP2 this was rare.
Also I had carefully built up the “pinned items” for Explorer and Visual Studio on the Start Menu, and then they all disappeared.
The reliable persistence of stuff like pinned items and publish-subscribe-logic is intricate logic obviously prone to ripples – of course you think it has to be fixed by “RC1”, but maybe not ?
I always like to recall the bargaining-position of the Morton Thiokol engineers when management wanted to launch the Challenger. Did you ever think to contrast this with the tenure afforded say Supreme-Court-Justices, so that they need not fear speaking their minds ?
I have been using it for a month now. Seems pretty rock solid and I have run into very few problems. It does seem like they’d like to get “Vista” behind them as quickly as possible.
I am ready to lay down money for Windows 7… even if I end up with another mac over the summer.
I never had any issues with vista, altho it would’ve been better without all the legacy support. the only issue I had with it initially was with zip files, it was a little slow extracting them, so I had to use winzip or winrar, that was fixed in SP1. I used build 7000 so far, I dont see much difference, gadgets floating out in the open, then I found out you could do that in vista too. I truely wish they would dump the legacy crap
Trouble is, if they dump that “legacy crap,” they’re going to piss off a lot of enterprises that depend on it. A good number of places use software that was written for NT 3.51 or 4.0 and haven’t updated it. This could lose Microsoft one of their biggest markets, the corporate enterprise.
I think they could easily solve this via virtualization, and it certainly seems they are moving that way. The legacy APIs and such could easily be provided in a virtual environment, leaving the core of Windows clear. While I’m no lover of Microsoft, I don’t dispise them either, and I don’t imagine removing and separating out the legacy cruft is an easy task especially for a codebase as big as Windows.