Redmond bungles the October Update
In case you haven’t heard, Microsoft has pulled the October update (version 1809/Redstone 5) while it investigates complaints from users that the update deleted files, in some cases totalling hundreds of gigabytes’ worth. There were also some complaints that the update would freeze, forcing the user to revert to the old version. (Maybe those were the lucky ones). Unlike the April update, where Redmond delayed the final release while they fixed BSOD complaints from Windows Insiders, they obviously let this one slip by. According the The Verge, the file deletion bug was flagged months before the October launch. So perhaps they knew of the issue but figured it would not affect very many machines. If true, that’s not a great decision for a company that has been stung so many times by fumbled OS rollouts. Whatever the case, this gives the software giant a pretty big black eye. The heavy reliance on the Windows Insider program for testing that ensued after the embarrasing fiasco that was Windows 8 was supposed to catch things like this.
My update went smoothly and I noticed no missing files after the install. Yeah, I know, it was a bit foolhardy of me to update the day it rolled out. The news didn’t break until the following day, but my system seemed to be fine, thankfully. At any rate, I will certainly be more cautious with the next big update.
I still think the Insider Program is a good idea as it shows that Microsoft is really trying to listen to its users. However, it looks like it may need some serious tweaking. Also, the company may want to look up the word “hubris.”
Matt
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