Can't we just get it right?

…and if not, why not?!

This article in eWeek really bugs me:

“Faulty Microsoft Update Rekindles Patch Quality Concerns”

Just when we finally see the tide turning and people starting to believe that Microsoft is really improving things, we shoot ourselves in the foot by releasing an update that causes problems.  And while usually I don’t mind doing it as a representative of the company, I’d really rather not have to keep apologizing on it’s behalf.

I agree with the concerns raised in the article, as well as the idea that, really, IT Pros must test updates before they roll them out in production.  And new tools like WSUS (the next version of SUS) will make it easier to automatically distribute updates to special groups of test machines.  We’ve done a lot, and we’re doing more; but it’s still tough to get the word out about all the improvements we’re making when we have a bad release.  It’s like months and even years worth of trust-building can be un-done with just one bad release. 

About the only thing we can do is improve how we test these updates.  Maybe even widen the external resources with our partners who are also willing to help us out – and give them good incentives to do so.

What do you think?  Am I overreacting?