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Mon, Jul 9, 2007 16:47 EDT
How Microsoft Refused to Speak With Me About Windows Error Reporting (WER)
Topic: ApplicationsBlog: Mobile WorkHorse
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Have you ever wondered what really happens to those Windows error reports you can send to Microsoft whenever a Windows app crashes? How many reports it must receive before taking action? Or whether it's worth your time and effort to send duplicate reports if the error occurs repeatedly? I did, and I asked Microsoft. Unfortunately, after a week and a handful of assurances that they were working on responses, the software giant refused to speak with me.
First, some back story:
Recently, a flash-based advertisement on CIO.com began causing my Internet Explorer (IE) 7 browser—as well as the IE7 browsers of various colleagues around me—to frequently crash, sometimes as often as ten times a day. At first, it was easy enough to ignore with no more than a muffled expletive and a browser re-launch, but after a week or so of losing all my open tabs each time IE crashed, I couldn't help but fixate on the issue a bit.
(Why not just use Firefox or some other browser, you ask? Well, because I've got so many darned logins and passwords stored in IE. And why not remove the ad from CIO.com? Well, those of you familiar with the publishing biz and the reason why CIO.com is free to access won't need an answer from me, and I'm not going to get into that, regardless...)
Anywho, browser crashes—IE, Firefox or otherwise—aren't at all uncommon, as I'm sure you know. And I'm also sure you're all familiar with the Windows Error Message boxes that randomly appear when something rubs a Windows application the wrong way. You know, the ones that look like this:
Such messages also request that you send an error report to Microsoft "to help [it] improve Internet Explorer."
Internet Explorer, microsoft, WER, Windows Error Reporting
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I've been wondering, too, where all the reports I've sent have gone. I figured they were either overwhelmed or didn't really care about my particular errors. But perhaps they forward them on to Apple... or to Mt. Rainier... or maybe I'm spam to them.
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you know with firefox you can import all your old passwords from IE? seriously dude, you should switch :) you could also block the ad in your hosts file if it's on another server
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The thing is that it's relatively hard to measure the numbers. Microsoft allows third party vendors to register (the process is rather complicated) and be able to receive error reports for their applications. Now the generic system just "forwards" the crash reports to the appropriate teams based on the reports and it's up the the team to consider which bugs take the priority.
Also to quote another MS page: "Microsoft has benefited from Windows Error Reporting during the development and after product release. The Office product group fixed 50% of all reported errors in Service Pack 2. The Visual Studio product group fixed 74% of reported failures by Beta 1 for Visual Studio 2005. And the Windows product group fixed 29% of problems reported on Windows XP in Windows XP Service Pack 1."
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My feeling is that these reports are stored in a database which is used internally by Windows developers/bug fixers to help them resolve issues as they come along. I am sure the information in there contains backtrack information which can help them identify where in the code the crash occured.
I have a feeling that these bug reports aren't necessarily used to flag problems, since each report would be different (a different computer and setup), and a single app/dll could have multiple reports for many reasons.
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And the Windows product group fixed 29% of problems reported on Windows XP in Windows XP Service Pack 1
29%, WOW!
When I (have to) use winword, from various version of msoffice since 2000, on various version of their os, I always face the same problem.
It crashes, then it restart, and trying to recover the document it crashes again. Finally it restart again with a blank document.
There is no way to open the document again but using openoffice!!!
I can't number the time I've sent the report and the problem is still there, even updating it regularly.
The truth is that there is no reason to use ms products.
Al Sacco writes about (and drools over) anything and everything mobile or wireless as it applies to the global workforce--with a focus on BlackBerry smartphones.
Got tips? Send 'em Al's way.
Follow this blog on Twitter: @MobileWorkHorse.
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