Microsoft hits back after Google publicises Windows bug

[DevDrake]

I think we are forgetting that Microsoft actually had two releases prior to this one, and they could maybe had urged a bit more to have it fixed with in the given time by google ?
I'm surely standing with google on this one. two patch cycles is a lot, yea it takes time to make the fix, but should not take 50+ days.

fixing is easy, now go one and test it is not breaking any functionality smart ass

[crossy]

For a start off automatic updates are widely used on Windows, where as on Linux there is often a 'erm yeah, you are going to have to change' attitude that simply isn't there on Windows. I can't simply fire up a 10 year old binary on the last Linux Kernel, for better or for worse, that's not like with like.

Neither of these things are entirely true (in my experience). First off, there's been apt-get and up2date since I've been using Linux way back, and of course these update not only the OS and system libraries, but also any packaged software.
Secondly, if your "10 year old binary" is doing low level things, then yes, but actually I've found getting old library dependencies more of a pain. Plus I've had real hassle trying to get some XP progs working on Windows7 - mainly down to libraries again.

This is why QA regression takes so much longer on windows, they also support far more hardware platforms with that same release.

Again, I'm not convinced about this - Windows, without any doubt, supports more external devices but - with my Linux-fan hat on - that's maybe because the device manufacturer support for Linux has been pretty darned awful until recently. On the other hand I've seen/used Linux on everything from a RPi all the way to a massive IBM System Z mainframe and Cray supercomputer - so that to me gets the widest-hardware-platform-support crown.

And that driver integration makes the whole project irreducibly larger. I mean, it's really, really, really big. Go to kernel.org, download the latest vanilla kernel source code, and unpack the archive, it's frigging huge, and that doesn't even come with any of the git metadata, a git clone of Linus' repository will weigh in at something more like 1.6GB.

1.6GB - (expletive deleted before the mods get there)!!! I remember when it was a couple of hun'erd meg. Then again, if you're not doing kernel dev'ing then there's no need for source code these days.

NT kernel devs can keep their much more modular project much neater by being able to keep kernel services and drivers broken up into their own smaller projects which are way easier to manage. And of course, the vast vast vast majority of Windows drivers are managed by the hardware vendors. Which is good for a single company, because even Microsoft can only effectively throw so many human resources into squashing bugs.

So where the heck does Microsoft go wrong and spaghettify then (and yes, I realise that maybe I should be putting this to TheAnimus since he's obviously at guru-level wrt Windows). From my (admitted uninformed) pov it seems that any change to a Windows component requires corresponding updates in other seemingly-unrelated subsystems.

Again, thanks for the discussion, and for humouring my lack of knowledge.