According to a limited-time survey we're hosting here at WindowsITPro, customer perception over Microsoft's lack of quality for its Patch Tuesday releases is primarily due to the company's insistence that it needs to deliver more frequent updates in order to compete in the modern industry. To help you recollect recent happenings, this August, Microsoft released a number of new updates in its monthly patching cycle, but then had to recall some of the more important and highly publicized ones due to the updates causing blue screens of death and other ridiculous mishaps.
This is not the first time, either. You could go back through each month of articles here on WindowsITPro for the last couple years and build an intricate timeline of customer complaints and pains due to botched updates. Sadly, it's becoming extremely rare for a month to go by without some problem.
So, what's the reason for declining quality of Microsoft updates? According you (those that have already participated in the survey), here's the top reasons so far:
* One interesting footnote to the supplied stats is in the 3rd most voted item which blames Microsoft's recent round of layoffs. After identifying the IP sources, the majority that voted in this category originated from the Redmond area. :)
Based on the results so far, customers blame Microsoft's new accelerated product cycle as the primary reason. And, this falls directly in line with what Paul eluded to on Tuesday. In Patch Tuesday Tripped Up by Rapid Release Era, Paul agrees with the majority, suggesting that Microsoft is making too many changes too quickly, causing the stability of patch releases to decline.
So, it might surprise you that I don't agree. Perception is important, but I believe the problem actually exists elsewhere. I'm still working to finish my commentary on this and hope to have it published sometime early next week. So, stay tuned for that. It might surprise you, and it might make some of you angry.
However, we're not quite done. You can still participate and lend your voice to the matter. I've reintroduced the survey below so you don't have to click back to the original location. I truly hope you'll provide your own feedback and we'll report back on the completed survey soon. If you've already participated, take the time to read through the supplied comments. Some of them are instant classics.
