Customer zero

Every enterprise has its own curse related to optimization which most often spills into big problems for users.

The most recent example of such optimization comes from Microsoft. If before Windows updates were unstable and glitchy, which is still understandable given the quantity of supported hardware and software solutions, the latest Windows 10 releases and patches can have unexpected problems. Worth to note: previously glitches and instability were mostly associated with safety and components co-operation, rather than the risk of losing all data as it happens now.

According to the opinion of one Microsoft employee published in media, the reason for such a deplorable drop in quality is simple - changes in the process of testing new builds and patches. Now, most tests are automated and done on virtual machines. That means new deployment, no “tails” from previous installations, no third-party software, no drivers. In general, the level of coverage of possible conflicts and problems has fallen catastrophically, which is what end-users face.

Insiders program is not a solution, since its participants are not average users, and the number of them does not greatly increase the level of coverage.

This reminds me of a story when the same program was implemented at VMware. Unlike Microsoft, the amount of supported hardware is limited and well known. Drivers are produced either by the server vendors themselves (hi, HPE), or typical solutions, like Intel, are used. VMware’s task is to test and guarantee the quality of new functionality in its stack of products. And if so - you can automate everything and run it on virtual machines.

Those releases were terrible. Not only new features were problematic but proven broke in an even place. Patches came out with enviable regularity, and the number of Knows Issues was more than Resolved Issues, and more entries were added as customers installed new releases. After some time, when it became clear that the new system is not working, a new idea was presented - Customer Zero. The idea is very simple and in the mid-90s was very popular inside Microsoft: eat your own dog food. Or, simply put, your own business is the first customer to who you sell to and any new functionality test on. Results were achieved very quickly: it turned out own IT was not updated to new versions due to stability problems. New features, products, and functions are not needed as such the way they were developed.

In the current situation with Microsoft, it remains only to wait for the flywheel to spin in the opposite direction.