I think a lot of people (including myself) will agree with this piece:

 

Windows isn't working – and Microsoft urgently needs to change how it develops the platform, and jettison three filthy practices it has acquired in recent years.

 

In 2014 Microsoft decided it could do a better job if it discarded a lot of software testers. This bright new dawn was lauded at the time by Peter Bright at Ars Technica in a piece titled "How Microsoft dragged its development practices into the 21st century". Testers were soooo 20th century.

 

The previous month, Microsoft had laid off many of its Windows testers.

 

"Under the new structure, a number of Windows engineers, primarily dedicated testers, will no longer be needed," wrote Mary Jo Foley in her scoop for ZDNet.

 

Crowdsourced testing would be the way forward – and we should be thankful for this, Ars advised. "The goal is to make the OS team work more like lean startups," we learned. Lean. Agile. Heard this one before?

 

"QA still exists and is still important, but it performs end-user style 'real world' testing, not programmatic automated testing. This testing has been successful for Bing, improving the team's ability to ship changes without harming overall software quality," Bright wrote.

 

ell, here we are. Over the past three years Windows 10 has been released at six-month intervals, so someone was doing the QA, but it showed less and less each time. Development slowed to a glacial pace. I would leave my biannual NDA walkthrough scratching my head at some of the headline features. 3D Paint? A new toolbar for gamers? An acrylic calculator? These were not only trivial, but they didn't seem to be on any professional user's wish list.

 

Perhaps concerned at this slow pace, Microsoft managers decided to take the foot off the brake. Caution was thrown to the wind.

 

Windows watchers see a company in a rush. Windows Insider builds migrate through three stages – Fast, Slow and Release – and each should be less risky than the last. Build 17758 sped from the bleeding-edge Fast Ring to the Slow Ring in just three days (breaking .NET). A few builds later, the RTM 17763 bypassed the Release stage entirely and leaped into the wild. "Microsoft closed that window in record time," notedNeowin's Rich Woods.

 

"It's entirely possible that the absurd breakneck pace of change we're seeing masks a complete breakdown in Microsoft's ability to produce reliable software," wrote Woody Leonard. "All I know for sure is that Windows is on a vicious downward spiral."

 

Then there's the problem of crowdsourcing. This crowd isn't worth much, and certainly isn't wise enough to spot the problems Microsoft's dysfunctional software processes are throwing up.

 

I think this whole "Windows-as-a-service" thing is badly implemented. We have an operating system that needs a full release to implement a better bookmark system for its built-in browser (not an exact description but you get the idea.) It's a shambles. A full release that adds a new screenshot tool. Wow. Thanks...

Reality is that we get a lot of the stuff we don't want or need and none of the stuff we want.

Security, reliability and speed should be the top of the mind.

Cortana? Yeah, ok, nah. Phone companion? Sure, but do you need a full release for that which could just be an app?