Crappy damn software

Firstly, let me start by saying I’ve worked in the I.T. industry, as a User, Support Specialist, Tester and finally in a Quality Assurance and Implementation role on a National level.

So it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock to know that if I get software for my computer that is, shall we say, a little less than acceptable, that I get pretty damn angry.  Or pissed if you please.

Silly me figured that if I ran the latest Microsoft Updates for Outlook that were flashing up on my desktop for automatic install that I’d be fine.  Stupid me!

It all appeared to install fine.  No problems, no errors.

Great!

Then, I checked my calendar.  All my categories were gone.  For ease of use I colour code my calendar, birthdays may be red, gym appointments blue, dinner reservations green etc.  My calendar was now all white.  I quickly checked via Google to see if there was a fix.  There was, I followed the instructions.  It even seemed to work, except the colors applied weren’t quite my originals.  I manually fixed that.  Problem solved.  Or so I thought.

Then a few hours later I tried to use my phone.  I should probably point out now, that when I’m home my phone is plugged into my computer, while it’s plugged in it simultaneously charges, and synchronises with my calendar.  So at all times (if I have my phone) I can keep track of appointments, and contacts should I need to.

Ha!  I’d assumed the previous update had worked.

If the intent was to wipe all my calendar dates, and all of my contacts; essentially every phone number and email I had on my phone, then mission accomplished.  Well done Microsoft.

But no, I’m guessing that wasn’t the case.  Bloody brilliant!

You would honestly think, or at least I’d like to, that a company of that size, would have a process or processes in place to ensure that thorough testing was in place to ensure these problems don’t occur.

Maybe it’s harsh, especially as a spouse of an employee of Microsoft, but it seems these days it’s more important to roll the software out, either incomplete, faulty or missing key parts, in an effort to stay at the top of the market, and then try and placate the user by offering multiple updates at a later time.

Not good enough.  The rest of my evening is going to be spent now trying to work out where everything went, and to somehow restore all the missing data.  Fortunately I make regular backups.  Unfortunately, it’s still going to take time and effort.
I wonder if it’d be extreme to drive across the freeway to the Microsoft Campus on Monday and ask to see the person who signed off on the release…   Good thing I didn’t have to make an emergency phone call or contact someone urgently.  But don’t get me started.  The operating system on the phone is a Microsoft product too.  It fails constantly, and generally I have to reboot the phone itself just to make a call.  Not to mention that the person who updated the texting system in the last release decided that the “delete” function was much more important to have on the main screen than “new”!

Grrrrr!  There really is a huge disconnect with some large corporations between what the Customer really wants and what the Customer actually gets.

… aside from the Customer getting screwed!  and usually charged for the privilege.

That’s my rant done.  I’ve updates to uninstall, and fingers to cross in the hope it rectifies the problem.