“Given the importance that Microsoft’s smartphone platform should have—not to mention the uphill struggle it faces against the iPhone and Android juggernauts—one would have thought that the company would make sure that delivery of the first patch was rock solid and reliable,” Peter Bright reports for Ars Technica.
“After all, robust, universal patching is one of the big advantages of Microsoft’s platform over Google’s Android. Microsoft’s locked down hardware requirements, in conjunction with its centralized patch distribution and offical (albeit carefully-worded) statements to say that all devices would be ‘eligible’ for updates, should have given Microsoft an almost Apple-like patch process: uniform availability, regardless of carrier, regardless of OEM, regardless of model,” Bright reports. “And because every phone is running the same software, well, it should all just work, shouldn’t it?”
Bright reports, “Alas not. Monday, Microsoft started rolling out the first update to Windows Phone 7… Sounds simple. Except it doesn’t actually work… The updates are failing to install in two ways. For lucky individuals, the process merely hangs on step seven (out of ten); rebooting the phone resurrects it, albeit without the upgrade. For a minority of unlucky users, the process fails at step six, and corrupts the phone’s firmware. What’s worse is that for some of them it appears to be bricking the phone completely, rendering it useless.”
Read more in the delightful full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Wholly expected incompetence; a fish rots from the bald head down and Microsoft was rotten to start with.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
You couldn’t make this shit up…
You could, but if it was ANY other company, I wouldn’t believe you.
Yep! LOL
With a heaping helping of that delicious, zero calorie, zero fat schadenfreude…
How in the hell did this get through? Does someone hate Microsoft within Microsoft? Ballmer should throw a chair at someone.
@breeze,
“You couldn’t make this shit up…”
You can,,, but no one would ever believe you. LOL
Just a humorous thought.
en
Well at least the new update improves battery life!
“rock solid and reliable” is the last thing I would expect from MafiaSoft.
I thought the phones were bricks BEFORE the update…
Is the OS cursed due to the word “Windows” in it’s name? Or just because Microsoft is involved?
Didn’t Nokia jump ship and climb into this sinking boat after bringing in that old Microsoft employee as CEO?
breeze is right, “You couldn’t make this shit up…”
I’m starting to wonder whether we have some Apple guys on the inside, working for Microsoft but with their own agenda…
Shhhh, it’s the iCIA.
Just finished reviewing the article and its comments at the orig site.
“Ouch. One would imagine that Microsoft would have a robust testing/QA division to make sure these kinds of things don’t happen.” is a typical comment.
Just goes to show you that some people think Microsoft cares about its customers…. .. Boy isn’t that funny. ?? LOL
Microsoft makes the software. its up to others to make it wok. That has always been their motto. A friend bought a PC from “no name brands are us” with 3 years of free tech support. Ha Ha Ha.
After they got their first virus and tried to call the free tech support, all they got was……. nothing. No answer. So we called Microsoft tech support and was told that the XP software was “OEM” and not Microsoft and so they did not support it. Call the computer vendor, you know.. No Name brand. LOL
Just a thought,
en
The two dozen owners of these phones must be a little miffed.
After reading the article, it seems that this may be a shared fault (although, in reality, it still all comes back right to Microsoft). Even though MS declared that WinMob7 will NOT allow carrier customisation, this is NOT the case. Samsung has manufactured WinMob7 phones for dozens of carriers around the world, and practically EVERY one of those carriers got a different firmware version. We don’t know what exactly is the difference between the firmware versions (whether it is just the logo graphic and startup/shutdown screens/animations, or if it goes deeper), but different they undoubtedly are. And it looks like the few HTC WinMob7 unbranded (by carrier) phones are updating fine.
Microsoft could have (and should have) predicted this possibility and tested ALL different firmware versions before rolling out. The bigger problem, though, is the one they were hoping to avoid in advance: carrier customisation. Android patching situation is dreadful precisely because carriers heavily customise their devices and control the patching process completely. MS was trying to “bathe without getting wet” (or to “get laid without penetration”). You can’t have it both ways, guys; either YOU control the OS, or the carrier does.
predrag – you missed the point. In MS parlance the QA process is to release the junk to suckers/customers and see what happens. Failure is an option, one that they observe regularly.
Wow, what a shocking development… Does this mean that the horrible closed system that Apple has forced upon us to experience the iPhone – ACTUALLY WORKS? I may fall out of my chair. The shock is overwhelming, blood pressure dropping….
Ha ha…
This was only a pre-update, not even the update.
So true. This is going to be fun to watch as it plays out! Popcorn anyone?
Somewhere in Tampere, Finland, a bunch of Symbian developers will get happily drunk tonight.
“…should have given Microsoft an almost Apple-like patch process: uniform availability, regardless of carrier, regardless of OEM, regardless of model…”
Why should it? Given that they have to deal with a diverse set of hardware, carrier add ons, etc, one should expect this to be like the experience of windows and peripherals or PlaysForShizzle and the iPod-wannabes. Apple gets around this issue not by a single OS version, but by the fact that they control the hardware and prohibit carrier bullshit on top. Note that Apple has some hiccups when the latest version of iOS first goes on older phones. This is why Apple should never license iOS or OSX to go on third party hardware. This is why Apple is right dictate terms to their partners.
Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with your Microsoft product.
“When using our product, use caution. Caution comes in five delicious flavors…”
–Groucho Marx
With so much riding on W7 Phone, Redmond still manages to step on a rake and have the handle smash them in the face. It’s so much fun to watch them fail, I really don’t want it to end.
http://themacadvocate.com/2011/02/22/windows-phone-7-first-update-bricking-phone-corrupting-firmware-is-a-feature-not-a-bug/
There was the time when AT&T’s computers became overwhelmed and couldn’t re-authorize iPhone’s fast enough, but that was AT&T.
There was also the time when iOS 2.0 in rare cases (I was one of them) wouldn’t recognize third party apps, I was one of them, but the phone and core app’s kept working.
This one sounds like it should have been caught by just saying, “lets test the update on 3 phones!”
Test on three phones. Are there 3 employees at Microsoft that aren’t using iPhone or a shitty Android copy of an iPhone?
While this is hilarious and yet another black eye for M$, why does MDN have to embellish in their editing to make it appear as if it affected every make and model (which it didn’t)?. You think anybody who would attach “News” to their name would show some greater integrity, but then again look at those Fox guys…
‘cuz that’s how MDN rolls…
We’re not looking for fair and balanced – we want MS and Google to die.
🙂
Always a Few that have to point a finger on how unfair MDN is, Get over it Boy’s and move on.
I for one, including the other numerous post seem to understand humor and truth in a story, then as with you both is the flip side of how everything is so unfair.
Regardless, you both are entitled to your personal opinions, and this lets others weed out the Apologist on the other side of the fence taking up arms to run to the aide of their preferred platform.
Note: This is a Mac News Site, Not a MicroSoft Barbecue with your friends.
What Arrowonthemark said ++++
This is MDN – Mac Daily News.
Don’t like it? Don’t type http://www.macdailynews.com into your browser and you’ll never have a problem again.
Hm. I kinda like that idea of barbecued Microsoft. On a bun…
think about NOKIA
their new CEO ex-microsoftie Elop said that Nokia (symbian, meego) was a ‘Burning Platform’ and their salvation is… Windows Phone 7!
Microsoft’s method is different from Apple in a very important way. iPhone’s OS updates are made through iTunes, with the iPhone as an “inactive” participant in the process; the host computer does all the work.
That means Apple controls the process completely. That means the process cannot be “blocked” by the carrier. That means the current firmware/OS on the phone is not important. That’s why Microsoft is having this problem.
It’s kinda sad to take a twisted sense of glee in Microsoft’s misfortune. I do actually feel some empathy for the deluded folks who bought one of those phones and now have to deal with the consequences. And no one is completely immune from this type of difficulty – Apple has had its own issues with iOS updates. But Microsoft has dumped on everyone else over the years, especially Apple. So, pucker up and kiss it, M$!