back to article Microsoft's own operating system should finally start working on its own hardware ... 'in the coming weeks'

Lurking within the epic patch dump offloaded on Windows 10 2004 users last night came the news that Surface Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 3 owners have been waiting for: fixes for glitches. The unexpected restarts and errors afflicting Always On, Always Connected devices have been rectified as part of KB4557957. Not that the …

  1. anthonyhegedus Silver badge

    Sums up Microsoft's quality control

    It's a huge embarrassment to have their own software fail with their own hardware. Clearly the quality of their code sucks, and either the quality control is terrible, or they just don't care. Or both.

    1. Joe W Silver badge

      Re: Sums up Microsoft's quality control

      At least it is consistent behaviour.

    2. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Sums up Microsoft's quality control

      another (sigh) footgun moment from The Redmond Behemoth.

      They really do need to hire another tester. They can afford it...

      1. Meirion NotADeveloper

        Re: Sums up Microsoft's quality control

        I think the tester in this case did a good job and found the problems *before* the update got pushed out and broke the devices. This hasn't always been the case...

      2. Evil Auditor Silver badge

        Re: Sums up Microsoft's quality control

        Really? Assuming that people buy their crap anyway, they don't need to hire anyone, being it tester, developer, analyst, engineer etc. That would only botch their bottom line.

      3. dajames

        Re: Sums up Microsoft's quality control

        They really do need to hire another tester. They can afford it...

        Their own hardware is clearly so expensive that they think it would be an unnecessary luxury to allow their tester(s) to use it ... if the testing department's budget is that small they probably can't afford another (any?) tester.

    3. Paradroid

      Re: Sums up Microsoft's quality control

      You would think either the Windows team or the Surface team would be responsible for validating new Windows builds on Surface hardware.

      Maybe there was a big childish argument inside of Microsoft because neither of them wanted to do it, so now nobody does it.

    4. oiseau
      Facepalm

      Re: Sums up Microsoft's quality control

      It's incredible how people don't get it, after all these years of seeing MS roll steadily downhill.

      Their code sucks, the quality control is terrible inexistent and they just don't care.

      Can't understand how they still get away with it.

      O.

      1. Evil Auditor Silver badge

        Re: Sums up Microsoft's quality control

        Simple: market power. And, I have to admit, some of their products are not that bad, especially considering alternatives. But nowadays I can merely comment as a desktop user for my times as developer or sys admin are long gone.

        1. J. Cook Silver badge

          Re: Sums up Microsoft's quality control

          Add "lock-in" to that list; a lot of shops are MS shops, because their line of business apps are all windows based.

      2. AndyJF

        Re: Sums up Microsoft's quality control

        I tend to agree, but I grudgingly give them Kudos for VS Code. Although the success of it is probably down to the vast number of useful plugins.

  2. iron

    I'm being offered it today for my homebrew Ryzen desktop so it does exist. I was beginning to wonder.

    A job for after work, just in case.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    IT

    has come to this. Microsoft code does not work with it's own hardware, Apple's iOS latest does have a lot of problems on it's own hardware.

    I despise humans.

  4. wobball

    Ha!

    Still striving to get the os running well and reliably on ANY hardware and still trying to get their own office products to work with their os and their other products! They couldn't integrate a cock with an arse! End users generally don't need more than a Chromebook and it offers a great user experience and is easily maintained. Be brave!

  5. Paradroid

    Exposes their complete lack of direction

    When they send out a new Windows build and it fails out in the wild on some specific hardware combination they've not tested, I think any reasonable person can accept that as very difficult to avoid. But when MS don't even bother to validate builds on their own hardware prior to release, it just goes to show how broken their processes are.

    I also get the feeling that they're losing control of the Windows codebase. Reading through the list of known issues makes you wonder why so much stuff is getting broken on releases that on the face of it don't really deliver very much. They must be spending more engineering effort refactoring low level code than actually changing things that would benefit users.

  6. pstancer

    Don't hold your breath. This bug has been around since November 2019 on the Insider Build. They keep promising it's fixed, and sometimes it goes quiet for a couple of days after an update, but it'll be back.

  7. keith_w
    Happy

    My Surface Pro 6 / I5 had the same message, so I clicked on "check for updates" and lo and behold, I was offered the 2004 update, which went in with out a problem.

    1. Paradroid

      Yeah, whatever AlwaysOn/AlwaysConnected is, it's exclusive to SP7 and SL3.

  8. Spacedinvader
    WTF?

    "We're offering this update to compatible devices, but your device isn't quite ready for it"

    How the hell is it the DEVICE that isn't ready??

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Because the code is not fully developed for that hardware (call it shit of you prefer) and won't support that particular device.

      Why that happens in the wild is different question, however I think 'shit' remains the answer.

      There is always going to be an unusual combination of hardware/software that gives a problem but MS not getting it right for their own expensive hardware is something they should not have allowed to happen.

      1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

        You've missed the point. MS will fix this by changing the code, not the device, so it is the code that isn't ready.

      2. Chris 239

        Wtf are you talking about

        This is not about some weird edge case homebrew hardware it's about hardware designed and built by M$, you know, the same M$ that make this OS!

  9. Miss Config
    Holmes

    Microsoft Forms SEPARATE Companies

    Once upon a time Microsoft was TWO companies : Windows and Office.

    Windows made some kind of OS while Office made Office software for Steve Jobs and his gang.

    Now Microsoft ALSO includes a cloud company ( Azure ) and a hardware company ( Surface ).

    If anything Surface learned Windows quickISH.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Microsoft Forms SEPARATE Companies

      Dear Miss Confg,

      I think you might be wrong with some of your statements.

      1. Miss Config

        Re: Microsoft Forms SEPARATE Companies

        In legal terms perhaps. I am however referring to what is happening IN PRACTISE.

  10. DJ

    Think long term...

    It's spelled L - I - N - U - X.

    1. Paradroid

      Re: Think long term...

      There must be people inside of Microsoft looking at the shit the Windows team keep releasing, and wondering why they don't get working on a Linux distro.

      I would suggest the distro could have a Windows-like UI that people would prefer to Gnome or KDE, but I'd much rather have Gnome than something that looks like Windows 10.

      1. Avatar of They
        Thumb Up

        Re: Think long term...

        I look forward to the Linux distro from MS as I can see 2 possible outcomes.

        Either it will be as bad as windows 10 and the current crop of releases from M$ and it will need a community that isn't there to fix it. It will flounder about and show that they really can't do an OS, even with the support of all those communities. Communities made up of hobbyists who throw out distros all over the place - unlike the fully paid and skilled developers in Redmond.

        Or it will be brilliant and look amazing, which means everyone will look at it and go - "So why isn't windows 10 just as amazing?"

        Can't wait.

    2. Robert Moore
      Linux

      Re: Think long term...

      I changed the spelling to L - I - N - U - X a LONG time ago. I swear way too much using Windows.

      I even converted my GF to Linux.

    3. tcmonkey
      Trollface

      Re: Think long term...

      Actually, I think you might find that it's spelt B - S - D, since Linux seems to be taking it upon itself to copy all of Microsoft's worst ideas.

  11. 1313Mockingbird

    Working as a Team

    It sounds like the Windows software people and the Surface hardware people have not been collaborating well. It's just too bad that there isn't some some kind of whiz-bang collaboration platform that would help these two Teams work together...

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