Microsoft's lack of quality control is out of control
- Reference: 1762590250
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/08/microsoft_lacks_quality_control/
- Source link:
As repeated Azure outages due to configuration errors have shown, "control" is perhaps also inappropriate these days.
It's difficult to pinpoint precisely where it went wrong for Microsoft when it comes to quality. In 2014, the company decided it could do without many of its testers. Mary Jo Foley [1]reported that "a good chunk" were being laid off. Microsoft didn't need to bother with traditional methods of testing code. Waterfall was out. Agile was in.
[2]
The [3]consequences have been difficult to avoid. There was the infamous Windows 10 Update Of The Damned (also known as the Windows 10 October 2018 Update), which deleted files, and despite Microsoft slowing down the release cadence after that, quality does not seem to have improved. Every few weeks, the company's "legendary approach to quality control" is evident, whether through a self-inflicted wound resulting from [4]issues with an update or, worse, the company's cloud collapsing due to a [5]faulty configuration change being rolled out.
[6]
[7]
While allowances can be made for the former – the Windows ecosystem consists of hundreds of millions of devices, and some issues are inevitable (even if others are inexcusable) – the same cannot be said for the latter. Sure, Azure is vast, but it should be a known quantity as far as Microsoft is concerned. Therefore, repeatedly rolling out changes to production that leave customers with inoperative services is more than questionable quality control; it calls into question the company's competence.
[8]Win10 still clings to over 40% of devices weeks after Microsoft pulls support
[9]Microsoft keeps adding stuff into Windows we don't want – here's what we actually need
[10]Windows 11 tiptoes further into dark mode with new dialogs
[11]Clippy rises from the dead in major update to Copilot and its voice interface
As the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me over and over again ... well, I guess that makes me a Microsoft customer."
So perhaps it is time to retire the phrase "legendary approach to quality control" and replace it with something more befitting the situation?
This is where The Register readership comes in, particularly those who have been at the sharp, pointy end of Redmond's antics.
[12]
How would you describe the quality of Microsoft's wares these days, and the amount of testing that has been done before the company's latest emission?
Sadly, the word "pisspoor" might confuse the international audience, and naughty words could trip firewall filters.
But things seem to have moved beyond "legendary approach to quality control." ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/beyond-12500-former-nokia-employees-who-else-is-microsoft-laying-off/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aQ8i0SQViTQoRAj5W4V-tgAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2018/10/23/microsoft_windows_10_crisis/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/19/windows_reset_recovery_broken/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/microsoft_azure_outage/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aQ8i0SQViTQoRAj5W4V-tgAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aQ8i0SQViTQoRAj5W4V-tgAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/04/windows_10_eol/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/16/microsoft_windows_features_help_productivity/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/20/windows_11_more_dark_mode_dialogs/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/24/microsoft_clippy_copilot_update/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aQ8i0SQViTQoRAj5W4V-tgAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Well, it compiles!
Mostly.
(Scripts and config files don't even need to compile.)
Re: Well, it compiles!
On Error Resume Next really speeds projects to completion.
Last years I call it "Not interested what you need, pay for the subscription and shut up" strategy. When it comes to company use, the Premium support for 50 thousand USD to start talkng to anyone able to help you in trouble - that's not affordable for smaller companies. For my family as a supporter I recommended ChromeOS (or Apple).
Program / Programme
On the UK version of Windows 11 at work; if you open an application from the 'open with' menu item, you eventually get a file browser object where the file type filter is set to 'programmes'. For those outside the UK, we use 'program' in relationship to computing terms and 'programme' for everything else. It looks like Microsoft just ran the localisation through a UK English spell checker and stuck all of the 'translations' straight in without checking (AI involvement?). I don't know if they have fixed this in other versions of Windows 11 as I don't use Windows outside work, but I think this is a good example of Microsoft's quality control.
Re: Program / Programme
Oh my lucky child of the Anglophone ...
micros~1 applies machibe translation to everything, in all the languages. And machine translators don't do context.
In the German help, I saw mention of wiping a device in terms of cleaning a surface, and not in terms of remotely deleting data.
So for non-english speakers it's the following workflow: translate in your head to english and try to make sense of it
Re: Program / Programme
In an old version of MS Word (set to UK English), the grammar checker explained why it was changing 'tires' to 'tyres' as follows:
"tyres" means "rubber wheel coverings", "tires" means "exhausts".
Microsoft gave up all pretext of caring about QA/QC ...
... starting with the run-up to the official release of Win2003Server.
Win2K was the last semi-decently vetted MS operating system; it's all been downhill from there.
Re: Microsoft gave up all pretext of caring about QA/QC ...
We forget that MS took a kicking to get them to take quality sufficiently seriously to do the work necessary to turn the pile of garbage that was launched as XP into XP-SP2/SP3 which everyone remembers and raves about.
Yet another Windows vs macos comparison....
Sorry, apologies, but why such a frequent cadence?
macOS has a much more sedate release program, where both enterprise and public testing is encouraged. macOS isn't without it's faults, but, my God, from an Enterprise IT perspective, it's much more manageable (and better quality)
Re: Yet another Windows vs macos comparison....
MacOS and Windows are both on yearly major releases and both have public testing. The quality of MacOS is also leaving something to be desired lately too. Perhaps you just can't cram new features and respond adequately to a flood of bug reports often written by people who have no real expertise in writing them and release on a marketing-driven yearly schedule.
Break all the things
Server 2025 has so many issues. Yet MS keep piling on the features whilst breaking things. More generally.
In August the CU for Win11 24H2 wouldn’t deploy via WSUS and last month local host broke.
The focus should be on stability and speed. I put linux mint in an old laptop and it’s much faster than Win11.
You could almost argue a split of organisational vs home versions of Windows is needed. You don’t need Candy Crush/Xbox on Education/Enterprise versions.
Re: Break all the things
> You could almost argue a split of organisational vs home versions of Windows is needed.
MS already use “Home”, “Professional”, And “Enterprise” for this. However, what is clear MS think playing games and watching adverts is what counts as work these days.
It seems now, to avoid the junk you need the “Server” edition.
However, given the vast majority of servers in the world run Linux/Unix (including those underpinning Azure) and MS’s desire to replace all its on-prem products like Exchange with cloud, it can’t be long before MS sunsets Windows Server.
Our BOFHs haven't got a clue
They've set a group policy enable "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" which has no effect on security updates but opts the PC into preview updates which have even worse QA (if any at all).
Still, if they want to opt in to increasing their chances of having to sort out a boot-looping fleet of PCs then that's their problem.
Redmond Reliable
I've been using the above for years to describe things that will break as soon as you look at them. And if you stop looking at them. And just for giggles because, why not?
Rosie
Microsoft's QC
To mangle a quote from the film "The Legend of Hell House" where Florence Tanner is supposed to be possessed by a haunting spirit.
"Who the hell do you think you (Microsoft QC) are, you bastard? You might have been hot stuff when you were fifteen, but now you're shit!
QC? Where?
Can't speak so much for Windows 11 (only ever had it on one computer until its warranty ran out, and hated it), but W10 had its fair share of stupid little foibles that should have been caught in QC testing had any been done. Some of these have existed for at least four years.
Trying to pin anything to the start menu as a tile, then arrange it to suit is often a work of patience and at least one reboot. Adding a tile then dragging it into position can often cause it to jump on top of some others and glitch the whole UI out. If that doesn't happen, it often pings off down into an out of sight wilderness you can only reach by scrolling for 30 seconds to find a tile frozen in place. Fixing the frozen menu normally requires a reboot to nudge everything into working again. Not hardware specific either as noticed on both my 2014 desktop tower and a 2022 Dell laptop, both rather powerful and fast Core i7 machines.
Obviously with the cessation of W10 updates its never getting fixed, but it's been an issue since at least 21H2 when the intensely irritating and buggy "news and interests" pop-up widget got slapped on everyone's taskbars without asking (often as not trying to remove the widget would cause it to freeze in place until you logged out/in and forced a reload of the taskbar).
I've used Ubuntu 22 GNOME for bits and bobs at work and Linux Mint Cinnamon at home. Neither are perfect but I've yet to find anything as flaky or crap on them as those issues above.
....okay, I'll breathe. It's way too early for a beer so I guess I'll settle for a coffee refill.
"It's difficult to pinpoint precisely"
Not really.
It is precisely when The Powers That Be at Redmond decided that they were more intelligent than quality control.
Borkzilla has the money. It should rehire every quality control specialist on the planet and get them hammering the fuckups that this ever-growing pile of festering shit is ceaselessly creating.
The shareholders ? Who cares apart from them.
MS seem to have a habit of putting their foot in it - the leg-end that is their quality control.
Well, it compiles!
Well, it compiles!