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Microsoft fired their entire QA team. They also fired their entire technical documentation team. They now treat Windows like freeware/shareware, and monetise

Microsoft fired their entire QA team. They also fired their entire technical documentation team. They now treat Windows like freeware/shareware, and monetise it the same way -- selling ads, collecting telemetry, bundling, and being pushy. Windows Server is abandonware, Microsoft only cares about Azure now. As far as they are concerned, hosting software yourself on-premises is a strange aberration and will eventually just go away. Entire categories of their products are no longer available for on-prem installation, such as: CosmosDB, Data Factory, Purview, Logic Apps, etc...

eitland 3y ago
> Microsoft fired their entire QA team. > They also fired their entire technical documentation team. Explains why I, when I tried to use the new Clipchamp app, I first had to look for the docs because what should have been obvious wasn't obvious ... and when I find the docs - they are translated (which is bad because it makes it harder to search in online resources when you have to guess what the concepts are called in English) - and it is impossible to change language - and navigation is so badly broken that the only way to navigate reliably between pages is to scroll to the top of the one you are currently on, find the link tree and choose another - oh, and the translations are hilariously bad: "to share" (as in sharing, which in my language is "å dele" or "deling") was consistently translated as "a share" (as in stocks, which in my language is "aksje"). As someone who knows English reasonably well and will even sometimes translate it is easily enough to understand, but really really jarring for me and probably not understandable for someone who doesn't understand English and needs translations.
- anilakar 3y ago
  They seem to be going cloud only even on the desktop. I tried to use the built-in video editor in Windows 10, and it told me to start using Clipchamp instead. A few clicks later the new program was installed and running, and before I could do anything it asked for my name. This is normal in many office programs that want to embed author info in metadata, so I entered it without any hesitation. A few seconds later a new email pops up in my inbox - I apparently had signed up to an online video editor service using my Microsoft account without knowledge.
jerf 3y ago
"Microsoft fired their entire QA team. They also fired their entire technical documentation team." Honest question: Is this a scurrilous rumor or the actual truth? If you're just being hyperbolic, I'm down with that, no complaint, I'm just curious how literally true this is. (I have to admit it'd explain a lot of what I see lately; I've observed for well over a decade now that if people held Windows to the same standards they do for "the Year of the Linux Desktop!" claims that Windows doesn't necessarily pass the test either. But it does seem to be getting worse lately, and with things like ads it's downright broken by design. Windows now survives in my house by the skin of its teeth, only because I haven't found a Linux Cricut solution and we use that every few months.)
- watermelon59 3y ago
  They essentially eliminated the SDET role across the company. There may be a few left here and there, but it used to be a whole thing of its own. The book How We Test Software At Microsoft describes in detail what the SDET role was about and how Microsoft used to approach quality. I think it’s a tragedy that they eliminated the discipline entirely.
- eddtests 3y ago
  They still hire SDETs so I assume it's not true, however I did have a manager who said his whole team were laid off from Microsoft so I imagine they had some substantial downsizing from these days [0]. [0] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/what-does-it-mean-to-be-an-sdet-software-development-engineer-in/ba-p/610515 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/wh...

eitland 3y ago

> Microsoft fired their entire QA team. > They also fired their entire technical documentation team. Explains why I, when I tried to use the new Clipchamp app, I first had to look for the docs because what should have been obvious wasn't obvious ... and when I find the docs - they are translated (which is bad because it makes it harder to search in online resources when you have to guess what the concepts are called in English) - and it is impossible to change language - and navigation is so badly broken that the only way to navigate reliably between pages is to scroll to the top of the one you are currently on, find the link tree and choose another - oh, and the translations are hilariously bad: "to share" (as in sharing, which in my language is "å dele" or "deling") was consistently translated as "a share" (as in stocks, which in my language is "aksje"). As someone who knows English reasonably well and will even sometimes translate it is easily enough to understand, but really really jarring for me and probably not understandable for someone who doesn't understand English and needs translations.

anilakar 3y ago
They seem to be going cloud only even on the desktop. I tried to use the built-in video editor in Windows 10, and it told me to start using Clipchamp instead. A few clicks later the new program was installed and running, and before I could do anything it asked for my name. This is normal in many office programs that want to embed author info in metadata, so I entered it without any hesitation. A few seconds later a new email pops up in my inbox - I apparently had signed up to an online video editor service using my Microsoft account without knowledge.

jerf 3y ago

"Microsoft fired their entire QA team. They also fired their entire technical documentation team." Honest question: Is this a scurrilous rumor or the actual truth? If you're just being hyperbolic, I'm down with that, no complaint, I'm just curious how literally true this is. (I have to admit it'd explain a lot of what I see lately; I've observed for well over a decade now that if people held Windows to the same standards they do for "the Year of the Linux Desktop!" claims that Windows doesn't necessarily pass the test either. But it does seem to be getting worse lately, and with things like ads it's downright broken by design. Windows now survives in my house by the skin of its teeth, only because I haven't found a Linux Cricut solution and we use that every few months.)

watermelon59 3y ago
They essentially eliminated the SDET role across the company. There may be a few left here and there, but it used to be a whole thing of its own. The book How We Test Software At Microsoft describes in detail what the SDET role was about and how Microsoft used to approach quality. I think it’s a tragedy that they eliminated the discipline entirely.
eddtests 3y ago
They still hire SDETs so I assume it's not true, however I did have a manager who said his whole team were laid off from Microsoft so I imagine they had some substantial downsizing from these days [0]. [0] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/what-does-it-mean-to-be-an-sdet-software-development-engineer-in/ba-p/610515 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/wh...