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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.
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.
"Journalists / reviewers" don't fit the specs for the beta testers Microsoft is talking about. If Microsoft hands you a piece of software for the specific purpose of "beta testing" it and providing feedback, that is fundamentally different than being dishonest and signing up the beta test according to Microsoft's rules for beta testers, even though you know you're going to blow them off and just write some article for your blog or whatever.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Typical post-Gates Microsoft, blame the testers rather than the recipients of the feedback. I have a feeling they're ignoring all the valid feedback as it doesn't fit their narrative and justify what they're paying their developers.
"With Windows 8 we hear your negative feedback but we don't care for it since we know what's better for you and you're going to like it. Or not use it. It's your choice."
As someone who's been beta testing and feedbacking Microsoft products since they had beta tests, I threw in the towel with Windows 8 because they ignored the feedback concerning actual bugs and typographical errors.
Screw you Microsoft, you should have listened when people cared more than you claim to.
if you are doing compatibility testing with beta-level software you are testing too early
Spot on. I learned this lesson years ago with windows 95. The API was much bigger and different in a few key places I ended up using than what actually shipped.
The best you can hope for from MS beta is the big picture 'is it going to work'. But do not develop against it.
My guess is feedback diminished to a handful of people giving it with way more installs. If you have less than 1% of the beta testers handing back feedback they are not beta testers. They are just early evaluators. I can see why they did it. I would have toyed around with the idea myself.
I think this beta tester thing is overblown on the part of the testers. If you want to be a beta tester, provide feedback. But... MS has been very ugly in how they are using Windows 10 and other software onto users in a most Orwellian manner. I really think it's a hideous mistake to not honor customer settings on privacy and then "undo" these privacy settings with the next update. I saw Windows 10 for what it was long before it hit mainstream, as Windows 8.1 wasn't much better. This is not the OS to use should you care a whit about your privacy. In keeping with this privacy notion, I stopped using Ubuntu when they added the stupid shopping lens. My OS is just that, an OS. I don't want it serving ads, changing my settings once I've configured them, spying on me, phoning home to whomever. I have moved over to the BSD camp and am very happy. Free- and OpenBSD do what I ask them to do. Better than Linux, even, at least for me. My needs are minimal, but specialized, and *BSD fits that bill better than any current OS.
I also deleted my three Outlook.com email accounts once I learned they spy like mad. I have gone to a paid provider (Fastmail) which respects my privacy.
Unlike most here on slashdot I do actually want to use and learn your products. I really do as an IT professional I need to be up to date and I have the power to recommend your products and give you more money too.
Here is what everyone including myself think and why you are receiving negative feedback.1st off I want to say job well done with Windows 7. It brought me back from Linux as my main desktop as I know have linux stuff in vm's. What we liked was it was rock solid, stable, well tested, and worked and was well tested with the enterprise environment.
Windows 10 is very very flakely and loaded with privacy concerns since you fired all your QA. I tried last week for the 4th time to install Windows 10 on my desktop as a fresh upgrade. Too many bugs. What is unique as all 3 times I received a different bug. DNS issues, graphical artifacts, names cut short like c:\users\ti, drivers for Samsung pro SATA replaced by MS making system unbootable, etc. Corporations and inviduals have privacy concerns too. Make the pro version not track so you can monetize. Many businesses (all of them) process credit cards. How do you know that info is not being sent?? Not everyone is a big enterprise who buys the enterprise edition just for your information.
Hire some QA back and address privacy and give options for paying customers to have no tracking instead of relying on users and I may recommend 10.1 or 10.2 after redstone and all will be forgiven just like after Vista, 7 fixed things.
It is a shame because I started liking your products recently.
http://saveie6.com/
Graphics on my laptop great with Windows 10 until the an update. Since then it will not drive an external monitor. Reported it about 6 months ago. Machine is dual boot so windows 7 runs fine on the same hardware so I know the graphics card is fine, Will they let me roll back to older driver? No. They have a working driver, just let me install it.
Why give feedback when it will just be ignored.
I had over 100 upvotes on insider feedback last time I checked.
It makes it sound like Microsoft is Angry with their insiders over something they did or something they didn't do, and demanding an explanation from each one of their beta testers about their lack of feedback, or else....
In reality, it's nothing of the sort.... they have just decided to remove the ability of Beta testers to Opt-Out of annoying nag screens.
They already got the OS installed and Microsoft pulls a switcharoo. That's just scummy.
I'd say the OS wins every time. It does have access to all your file, you know.