Zune and Microsoft

This morning I read an on-line article from InformationWeek titled “Microsoft Scrambling to Thaw Zune Freeze” by Thomas Claburn.

Apparently the Zune is an MP3 player designed by Microsoft to compete with Apple’s iPod.  These are consumer products, which I do not relate to.  My car radio is tuned to the local public classical radio station and is set as a background.  My wife and I gave my oldest granddaughter a pink iPod on her last birthday.  For the holidays my son’s in-laws gave her a blue iPod.  Not sure how different the models are but it seems to me that a different present would have been better appreciated.  By the way the pink iPod has her name engraved on the back.  Not sure if Zune offers such feature.

According to Microsoft, the issue with the 30 GB Zune appears to be caused by a software bug in the clock driver related to leap years.  Consumers or users do not welcome bugs, but on the bright side the issue can be addressed by a simple procedure described in the article.

What prompted me to write this entry was not the article itself but a comment posted by SkateNY.  SkateNY had nothing good to say about Microsoft and the Microsoft Kool Aid drinkers.

I happen to be a Computer Scientist and have been working with computer for almost 40 years (not that old, started very young).  Around that time my dad found interesting enough the IBM computer purchased by his office, that he took a few courses on how to program the machine.  I recall some color-coded jumpers he would bring home for me to play with.  Those jumpers were about an inch square (huge compared to jumpers on current computer motherboards and cards).  That and my mother talking about the emerging Cybernetics discipline probably motivated my vocation.

Computers and software have dramatically evolved in that period of time.  The size and complexity of software has exponentially increased.  The applications we use today on our computers would not be possible if they had to be written from scratch.  By scratch I mean the assembly language understood by the Central Processing Unit (CPU) that act as the brain of a computer.  Software developers use always evolving specialized tools and libraries to come up with their master pieces.  Case at hand the software for the Zune.

So how do companies deal with the issue of being able to produce reliable products you might ask?  There are proven methodologies and procedures.  They all culminate with testing at the component and the system level.  The issue is that humans design all testing and testing cannot take years.  We all make mistakes, some less than others.  If development and testing for the Zune would be entirely done from scratch by a single individual then depending on the actual complexity it might take from years to decades to put the product in the hands on consumers.  As consumers we are always seeking for the greatest and latest gadget, which we do not tend to keep for too long.  Very few of the 30 GB Zune players that exhibit the leap year issue would be around for the next leap year.

During the past decade the Linux operating system became a craze.  It was touted that it would displace Windows.  It did not happen and chances are it will never do.  The company I currently work for was pressured by partners to move in the Linux direction.  This meant that most of our core software had to be written using cross platform standards that limited us not to take advantage of several technologies developed by Microsoft.  By the way all our products run on the Windows operating systems.  Through the years we had to develop from scratch many features some of which with time have appeared in Microsoft tools and libraries.

Our installed base is a fraction of a percent of any Microsoft product.  That means that Microsoft has many more users that can run into issues, which when addressed properly and in a timely fashion will improve quality and speed development resulting in better products.  All this said, we are still humans and as people come and go similar (but not the same) type of mistake may show up.

Our products are sold worldwide.  In 2004 one of our Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) had a leap year bug (or as we call them, issue).  The issue was first encountered and reported in Australia while most of our engineers were sleeping.  Our developers were notified at home, found the issue and created a patch.  Our support staff was called in to the office early morning and frantically worked for many hours as the start of the workday moved around the globe.  In less than 24-hours the issue was reported, fixed and customers were updated.

I might not agree with all the business practices from Microsoft, but Bill Gates and now Steve Ballmer have been able to make a great American company recognized all over the world making highly desirable products.  You cannot say that about our automobile industry.  As a matter of fact, regardless of size, not too many American companies have done as well.

SkateNY, this Naive American does not know what you do for a living, but my take is that you do not work in an engineering, scientific or technical field and if you do, chances are you are not good at it.  Have you or the company you work for has ever made a mistake on the services or products you offer?