Yesterday I got cranky with Microsoft about a long-standing bug in a Microsoft library that was causing problems for some FeedDemon customers. As you can imagine, I was frustrated that my work was being compromised by a known bug in code I had no control over, so I was feeling a little punchy when I posted yesterday.
Of course, I hoped that posting about the bug would get it the attention it deserved (which it did, btw). But I didn’t think about how my cranky post would affect the Microsoft devs responsible for tackling the bug (yes, folks, they are human!). I know it’s no fun to wake up and find some blogger just made your day harder.
As you can see from the comments to my post, Microsoft is on the ball – they jumped in, asked for more information, and reactivated the bug after being able to reproduce it. I have to agree with Andy Herron that Microsoft’s reaction was impressive. So, thanks for taking my criticism in the way it was intended and for taking the time to look into the problem. I look forward to seeing this bug fixed :)
Updated: How long should a bug go unfixed?
All software has bugs. Some of them are severe enough to cause problems for users, while others are minor and resulting problems almost never surface. Some fall somewhere in between. They create problems, but they may not rise to the…
Now if only Mozilla was listening to calls for easy, bug free embedding.
I don’t understand why you find Microsoft’s behaviour impressive. The bug was known and reproducible and significant. It was only until there was public outrage about it that they took any notice. That’s impressively reactive, but nothing more.
Yes, more than impressively reactive, the point is that Microsoft is responding. This is a result of societies’ evolution. Now if only the government would be as impressively reactive.
Better yet, if the government would just go away. :)
Its been a big week
The last5 days have beenfar more interesting than I ever would have imagined, most of it related to my post about Microsoft. Ill get the big news out of the way first – Scoble picked up on it, and linked to me. AJ thinks…