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Microsoft Unhappy With Beta Testers, Demands Answers (computerworld.com)
Freshly Exhumed writes: Microsoft has mandated that the feedback functionality built into Windows Insider Preview beta be switched on -- a change from earlier when testers could block questions from the company about what users thought of specific features. Starting with Build 14271 and newer, the frequency in which Windows 10 will ask for your feedback will be locked to 'Automatically (Recommended)' in the Settings app. This would seem to disrupt what has traditionally been seen as a tacit understanding between corporations and their beta testers/sandboxers in that the latter would volunteer their time, effort, CPU cycles, possible hardware failures/breakage, and more as part of a bargain to receive feedback or to test fly the beta OS with internal software environments in private. Microsoft would now seem to be altering that relationship.
Oh good grief! If you don't want Microsoft to gather information from your beta testing of Microsoft products, don't become a beta tester. I mean, is that what beta testers do, use the product and give feed back as requested? The simple solution if you don't like this policy is to not sign up to beta test Microsoft products if you don't really want to be hassled with feedback, "telemetry", and so forth.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Less altering the relationship I think than enforcing it. Too many beta testers were, it sounds like, treating the beta test as a sneak preview or early-access program and taking advantage of the offering without providing the feedback that's their part of the agreement. All Microsoft's doing is taking out the switch that lets them avoid being bugged for the feedback they agreed to give. It'll annoy people who were giving feedback but aren't having problems with those particular areas, but they're heavily outnumbered by the people who weren't giving feedback at all. Yet another case of the greedy breaking things for everybody, I suppose.
Not saying that everyone should or shouldn't give feedback per the term they agree with. But imagine certain group of people like journalists/reviewers, and MS know about them using beta products to gain insight/benchmark and writing review. Obviously you don't want MS to start gaming the system knowing which beta copy they are using and tweak the setting that would work well for particular system/task, but not working well in real life. So, yes, there are certain exception that I would rather have MS not knowing everything, even if those people accept the terms.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- If picture worth a thousand words, how many megapixels is it? -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
For those still running windows, and not Chrome OS, Mac, Linux or BSD consider this...an intervention on behalf of the slashdot community. im sure you have some immediate concerns -- reasons perhaps -- that you cannot part with your abuser. ill try my best to assuage your fears.
1. But I use windows for gaming! Steam has more than 200 titles that run just fine in Linux. Popular indie games and mainstream shoot-em-ups alike. they even offer steam machines as a platform if youd rather not fuss with Ubuntu.
2. I need it for office documents. No, it needs you. Libreoffice and a host of other tools let you edit and author office documents easily from any modern operating system.
3. well its what my office uses so... your office and about a million others use windows, but likely still windows 7. Things like email, calendaring, and federated login have existed for decades before Microsoft bundled them into their OS. Most of the services you use online arent contingent on your windows domain. Windows exists in the office out of comfort, standard, and price. corporations license their infrastructure for a fraction of what it would cost you to buy it.
4. $os_name is hard. it doesn do $feature.
its hard because learning new things requires effort. that other OS might not do exactly what windows does, but it still accomplishes the same tasks you need it to do in a different way. Maybe it even does it better. But like a productive relationship, it helps you do important things with respect. and this brings us to our #1 point:
Windows does not respect you or your work. It insults your intelligence and flagrantly ignores your privacy. it sacrifices your productivity and needs for its own. the things it shows you and teaches you arent always things you set out to do or want from the OS, but theyre things the OS wants from you. Buy a new videogame, download a new app, pay for a new upgrade. Your operating system is shallow and narcissistic. perhaps 8 years ago it was meaningful, but times have changed.
Good people go to bed earlier.
I actually was a Windows Insider and loved it but then I started getting dinged with prompts for feedback every time I opened a new program or used a new feature they added. It isn't that bad, but when you're in the middle of trying to do something it is annoying as hell so I don't answer them. Over time this actually changes my habits and made me stop answering any of them all together. I was giving them feedback. They asked for more and I started giving them none.
Interesting points, and I fully agree with you when it comes to tech people like us.
But if you think that your comments are scalable, then you probably have not dealt with non technical people, who are just trying to get work done(tm)
For instance:
- girlfriend works in some marketing/accounting/business unit and needs to finish some documentation at home during the weekend because of a late request
- grandma wants to see her grandchildren photos, which are embedded in that powerpoint. Background music is important.
- Non-Tech father needs to rework some documents done in the universal tool of all Lords, namely Excel, which office people bastardize via macros and whatever to serve a schizophrenic life of being spreadsheet, text editor, database, time planner, bug tracker, and version control tool all at once.
- Friend want to install password manager, tax program, adobe lightroom/Picasa, iTunes, pick non-web-based program, etc. and doesn't feel like learning anything about wine unless he/she is going to drink it.
So if you truly believe what you wrote, then you are either too young, or you work in a small technical company, or are a freelancer, or are one of those people expecting the world to change and learn to think and behave like us.
My heart is with you. I even use Linux (Xubuntu) as my daily driver at home, and I used to think like you trying to change the world. But as you have said yourself, times have changed and I have learned the reality. And even I need to dual boot to Windows every once in a while.
I have an Insider build of Windows 10 on a Lumia that I'm not using as a daily driver, and it feels like it'll update overnight, then ask me in the morning how stable this build is. I don't know, I've probably had less than 15 minutes of "on" time on the phone since the last update! Further, 99% of the crashes I see on the phone are because the primary app I use (PocketCasts for podcasting) was released, updated once, and has a variety of significant bugs.
Windows Phone itself? Has been fine, I actually like it, but was a little too locked-down for my use and is of course lacking in apps.
fencepost
just a little off