Big Challenges for Vista Bug Hunters

The New York Times is reporting on the final rush to bug fix Windows Vista. Even with massive numbers of testers and five years of work behind them, the folks in Redmond are pushing it to the wire in order to make sure it releases soon. From the article: "Vista has also been tested extensively. More than half a million computer users have installed Vista test software, and 450,000 of the systems have sent crash data back to Microsoft. Such data supplements the company's own testing in a center for Office referred to as the Big Button Room, for the array of switches, lights and other apparatus that fill the space. (A similar Vista room has a less interesting name -- Windows Test Technologies.) This is where special software automatically exercises programs rapidly while looking for errors."

special software

[macadamia_harold]

This is where special software automatically exercises programs rapidly while looking for errors.

and this software, folks, goes by the name "internet explorer".

Huh..

[Anonymous Coward]

Half a million installs, and 450k of them crashed.

Color me unimpressed.

I wouldn't want to be the guy

[Anonymous Coward]

"More than half a million computer users have installed Vista test software, and 450,000 of the systems have sent crash data back to Microsoft."

That is the kind of information that can get people fired...

Re:Statistics!

[ImaNihilist]

That's really what happened in North Korea, they just don't want to admit it. Some noob installed Vista on one of the nuclear control computers, and then it crashed, and boom.

Now the world will be destroyed, and we'll find out it was really Steve Ballmer's plan all along...then he'll throw a chair at something.

Begun the dark times have.

450,000 of 500,000 people report crashes ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Obiously 50,000 users didn't test anything at all.

Just wanted to thank god for linux.

Re:FUD?

[Dr. Eggman]

Nah, it's just a fancy place to bring visitors to. They probably bought it off a 50's sci-fi movie set, spinning reels and all.

This surely is the solution to sift through it all

[QuatermassX]

Surely Microsoft could use this to sift through such an vast quantity of code: http://www.google.com/codesearch [google.com]

Just please don't start hurling chairs at my Karma!

Re:special software

[Anonymous Coward]

I know a guy who craps gold.

So simple maths

[stewwy]

tells us that 450,000/500,000 gives us a crash rate of exactly 90% seems about right for a windows system , can't think why they haven't released it earlier.

Re:Huh..

[alohatiger]

Or maybe 499,999 didn't crash, and one of them crashed 450,000 times.