My own experience has been that MS have been very keen to repro and fix bugs
when they are found. You do not need ANY support plan with MS to report a bug
(which is always free – per-incident charges are credited).
I reported a bug with NT4/SQL (KB#:Q181859) which caused a BSOD during backup.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q181/8/59.ASP
Once MS were able to repro the bug (done within a day or two), a bug was found
in the redirector module (rdr.sys) and within a few days we had a “hotfix” to
address the problem so that our customers could implement the fix. The fix was
incorporated within the next service pack as expected.
Like any software company, MS suffers from the “it must be a bug in your code”
syndrome, so you do have to be prepared to demonstrate where the bug lies and
make it reproducible for them.
I also have found two compiler bugs (one in x86 and one in Alpha) and MS
responded exceptionally quickly to diagnose, reproduce and fix the problem.
Over the last couple of years I’ve seen that MS tend to be more bureaucratic
about changing the OS/software to the point where it seems to interfere with
progress, but I understand that the motivation is to not introduce more bugs
with the bug-fixes – a common problem with software development everywhere.
Regards,
Paul Bunn, UltraBac.com, 425-644-6000
Microsoft MVP - WindowsNT/2000
http://www.ultrabac.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Jan Bottorff [mailto:xxxxx@pmatrix.com]
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 9:41 AM
To: NT Developers Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Re: request for Microsoft regarding a parport.sys bug -
Sorry for off topic but I hope someone from Microsoft will read this and
forward to the apropriate guy who could send us an answer.
My personal experience has been bugs I report to Microsoft in the OS and
drivers often take years to get fixed.
I’d be interested in hearing if other developers have had similar or
different experiences? Does having various levels of paid support have any
effect on their responsiveness in fixing OS bugs?
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