On Friday I was contacted by a couple members of the press asking me if I had any comments on Microsoft's new IE public bug database. Since I hadn't had the chance to actually check it out, I refrained from comment.
Now that I have had a chance to check it out, I've got a couple of comments and a couple of questions.
First, the commentary.
The database is brand new and participation is still very low, with only a couple hundred bugs reported so it's difficult to make any serious judgements this early. There are large gaps in bug IDs so I assume they're moderating user submitted reports (maybe cleaning out trolls?,) or they're tracking large numbers of non-public bugs in the database (about 95% of the numbers since the first public one are non-public). I suspect that it's the former and not the latter because the number of non-public records, while a high percentage of the total, couldn't possibly be their full IE buglist. Maybe they've got some kind of combined system where public and private bugs share a numbering scheme, though.
It's called "Internet Explorer Feedback" so I'd wager that this system is a lot more like our Hendrix system, an opportunity for users to submit feedback and not a real public project bug database like our Bugzilla. I haven't seen any bugs that appear to be filed by Microsoft IE developers so I'm assuming they've still got their own private database where the real work happens. Oh, and in the introduction it says that "This is your opportunity to speak directly with the Product Team" (emphasis mine.)
The interface for searching and viewing bugs is really basic and clumsy. They'd have done themselves and their users a favor by going with something a bit more sophisticated if they anticipate any extended participation from bug reporters. I could see filing a ticket here, but I couldn't imagine actually doing any kind of follow-through with that tool. Buglists can be sorted by ID or Title only. Yeah, that bug Title sort looks really useful to me . The submission form is a lot like our Helper and they've got a decent doc on best practices for bug reporting. Also, navigation around the various components of the system is really busted and buggy. Apparently there are fields, at least attachments, which aren't visible to anyone but Microsoft employees. This is going to make any public discussions pretty painful. Oh, and it's painfully slow, especially given how little data there is to actually query.
It's integrated into the Microsoft Connect program so you have to jump through all of those hoops to participate (even to simply view the bugs,) including a 3000+ word terms of use agreement which specifies, among other things "Information available via this web site (such as white papers, data sheets, FAQs, announcements, bug information and web forum postings) are the confidential and proprietary information of Microsoft Corporation." So, apparently you're not allowed to talk about any of the information contained in this bug database outside of the Microsoft Connect pages. Kinda makes it something other than a "public" database, doesn't it.
On to the questions.
Will IE developers and QA be participating in this public forum or is it just a one-way system?
Will Microsoft employees file bugs in this database?
Will there be any technical discussion in these bugs or is this solely a non-technical forum?
Why is the "IE doesn't pass acid2 test" bug report "Resolved as By Design" ;-)
