Year in Review...

As 2018 comes to a close, I’d like to reflect back on the events of the past 12 months. The beginning of the year saw the implementation of Windows Insiders for Business within my organization. This, along with Windows Analytics signaled a new direction with cloud services and a new vision for the future.

I am truly honored to have had a chance to work very closely with some incredible people within Microsoft. I’m talking about Blair Glennon, Dona Sarkar, Jeremiah Marble, Zach Dvorak, Deepam Dubey, and so many others that if I listed them all this blog would go on forever.

As an Insider I have been able to provide feedback and see the results in the final product. This comes from installing over 40 builds this year from the fast ring…twice. Once on my corporate build and once on my personal device. Taking the time to review release notes, trying things out, doing quests, and leaving feedback.

There have been improvements in Edge’s PDF functionality, improvements to Timeline, a new Snip & Sketch tool, and countless other new features.

September came and off to Ignite! I was able to meet so many wonderful people from the Insiders team, MVPs from all over the world, and connected with other Insiders from all over the globe!

Then came the 1809 release…and pause…and release. I won’t go on about this as I have already said my peace on this one.

My journey as a Windows Insider has been a wild ride for most of 2018. As I plan for 2019 there is a lot more in store. One thing I’m looking at now is Desktop Analytics. Can’t share much right now, but stay tuned! Other things on the docket are local meetups in the Raleigh, NC area, lots more blogging, more speaking engagements and more builds!! I hope to share what I have learned (and continue to learn) with anyone and everyone!

Looking forward to 2019! Happy New Year!

-Eddie

Why are organizations not Insidering?

Yesterday I created a little Twitter survey asking folks if they run Windows Insider builds in their organization. Options were “Yes! Why wouldn’t I”, “No, but I want to!” and “No, it’s not allowed”. If the response was one of the no options, I asked why. So far there have been about 200 responses. Obviously this isn’t a very scientific poll, but the responses were interesting.

Let’s start with the numbers. 47% responded with yes. 17% said no, but they want to. The remaining 41% said it wasn’t allowed. At face value this is a little disappointing, but not surprising.

As I read through the tweet responses, something became very clear. FEAR. Fear of the unknown. This xenophobia seems to stem from either lack of understanding of the concept of Windows as a Service and the Insiders program, or legacy mindset of wanting to wait for the planets to align for a perfect, bug-free operating system. If you are in the latter of those two, I have news for you…it will never exist. At least not until the machines take over.

I’m going to focus on the concept of the Insiders. If you dig deep into the purpose of Windows Insiders, and in particular Windows Insiders for Business, you will find that the concept is nothing all that new. It’s agile development. It’s crowd-sourcing the QA process if you will. In the old days (think Windows 9x, NT, and XP), Microsoft released a new version every few years and it still had bugs. Even after Service Packs there were still some issues. The real difference now is the fail fast and recover quickly piece. Microsoft wants to your organization and YOU to be successful. Once you realize that, the fear begins to ease.

Now I’m not saying go out and run your entire organization on Insiders. Ideally, you would target 1% of your total population for Slow Ring, and a couple of engineering types for Fast Ring. Get people who are willing AND who own, manage, or support critical apps. Ease their fear (and yours) by having a secondary device or virtual machine available if they have issues. This is how you build the foundation.

It does not matter what sector or vertical you are in. It does not matter how risk averse your organization is. This can be done. If you want some guidance, just let me know as I will be glad to help!

Abraham Maslow said, “In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.” Ask yourself, do you want your organization to grow?

Too Many, Too Fast?

With the recent faux pas of the Windows 10 1809 release, there have been a bevy of cries for Microsoft to move to a single release per year. Are two releases per year too many, too fast? I say no!

Prior to Windows 10, new versions of the Windows desktop OS were released roughly every three to five years. Access to pre-release versions (beta) was very limited. You had to wait to gain access to begin testing. As most of us “old timers” know, you never installed the latest version anywhere in production. This was because it generally had several bugs. Any desktop engineer worth his or her salt, would wait until Service Pack 1 came out. This usually took about a year. This meant four to six years before access to new features. Four to six years for security improvements. More potential vulnerabilities to be exploited.

Now let’s keep in mind this was in the old days when Microsoft had a larger (internal) QA team.

If you did test soon after release and encountered a major issue, you had to open a case with Premier Support to get a fix before the Service Pack was released. Consumers were not so lucky.

If you wanted a new feature, there was always User Voice or TechNet forums to post to and hope for the best. Sometimes they would make it the Service Pack, sometimes you would have to wait for the next OS version.

With Windows 10, Microsoft has gathered the largest QA team possible: Windows Insiders. The goal is to obtain a larger cross-section of devices and configurations to uncover potential issues BEFORE the OS goes to General Availability. This volunteer army of Windows “Ninja Cats” not only work to reduce bugs, but provide feedback on newly added features, or even make suggestions on things they would like to see. All of this is done via the Feedback Hub.

Enterprise IT Pros are not left out as there is also a Windows Insider Program for Business. This is designed to help desktop engineers deploy, manage, and validate Windows 10 pre-release builds inside the organization.

Is the current system perfect? No. Do bugs still slip through? Yes. The key to all of this is how quickly things are resolved. Fail fast, recover quickly. Move forward. Yes, I’m talking DevOps.

Windows as a Service and the Windows Insider programs are constantly evolving. There are some key things we can do as consumers to help. First, join the Windows Insider and Windows Insider for Business programs. Second, be active. This means not only in the testing of Windows flights (builds), but within the community as well. You can do this by joining the Microsoft Tech Community. Third, leave feedback in the Feedback Hub. Make sure it is quality feedback and not “My Microsoft is broken”. Take time to gather details, error messages, screenshots, and other diagnostic data.

Does Microsoft have room for improvement? Absolutely! I look at it this way. If you are not helping, you are part of the problem. If you have good ideas, share them!

Welcome to the Windows Insiders Network!

Welcome to the Windows Insiders Network!

My name is Eddie Leonard. I’m an IT Pro, DJ, Dad, and Windows Insiders fan! I’ve been a Windows Insider since October 2014 on the consumer side and Windows Insider for Business participant since January 2018. The goal of this site is to share my experiences to help others in their journey on the merry-go-round we call Windows-as-a-Service! Make sure you come back regularly and follow me on Twitter (@DJ_EddieL)!

Happy Insidering!