Microsoft's lack of quality control is out of control

"OPINION I have a habit of ironically referring to Microsoft's various self-induced whoopsies as examples of the company's "legendary approach to quality control." While the robustness of Windows NT in decades past might qualify as "legendary", anybody who has had to use the company's wares in recent years might quibble with the word "quality." 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 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. The 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 issues with an update or, worse, the company's cloud collapsing due to a faulty configuration change being rolled out."

Microsoft's software quality has deteriorated in recent years, with frequent user-facing issues and recurrent Azure outages caused by configuration errors. The company cut a large portion of testers in 2014 and shifted away from traditional testing approaches toward Agile, reducing emphasis on formal testing methods. Notable incidents include the Windows 10 October 2018 Update that deleted user files and subsequent updates that continued to produce defects. Azure outages from faulty configuration changes have left customers with inoperative services, suggesting inadequate change control and operational oversight. These failures raise concerns about Microsoft's competence in managing its vast cloud and software ecosystems.

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