Microsoft addresses Update issues, but does not say much

To say Microsoft’s process of updating Windows phone 7 has been controversial is understating the issue.  Disastrous may be exaggerating, but it has certainly not put the company in a good light.

Today Microsoft has decided to address the issue head-on with a blog post on their Windows Team Blog.

Microsoft revealed in the post that each phone update commonly also includes firmware updates for each device, which complicates the process, and that carrier testing also introduces delays, saying “it’s still their network, and the reality is that some carriers require more time than others.”

Microsoft however denied that any carriers were blocking the update, merely confirming that issues with the recent set of updates which internal testing could not predict occurred, which was leading to them postponing the Copy and Paste update till later in March.

… I believe it’s important that we learn all we can from the February update. So I’ve decided to take some extra time to ensure the update process meets our standards, your standards, and the standards of our partners. As a result, our plan is to start delivering the copy-and-paste update in the latter half of March.

They however emphasized that this does not mean Mango will be delayed, despite rumours to the contrary.

What the post lacked however was any specific dates, numbers, time scales or promises.  While this works well for when Microsoft almost inevitable overruns, it does remove any accountability the company may have to its users, and denies current Windows Phone 7 users something which they are even hungrier for than an update – some accurate information about the future of the OS.

Read the full blog post here.

Thanks Bandit and everyone else for the tip.