Any software code will have bugs: Microsoft

One percent of the bugs in Microsoft’s software cause half of all reported

errors with 20 percent of bugs responsible for 80 percent of the mistakes, Chief

Executive Steve Ballmer said. Microsoft has been criticized for unstable and

unwieldy software which runs on more than 90 percent of PCs.

"Let’s acknowledge a sad truth about software: any code of significant

scope and power will have bugs in it," Ballmer told customers in a memo

similar to one made by Chairman Bill Gates this year renewing Microsoft’s

commitment to trustworthy computing. But Ballmer said Microsoft was arming

itself with better information to help develop its software, by building

error-reporting features into its products.

"Engineers

use the reports, sent in a short burst over the Internet, to track software bugs

and provide a fix," he said. "We’ve been amazed by the patterns

revealed in the error reports that customers are sending us," Ballmer

wrote.

While reassuring users the information was used for no other purpose than to

fix bugs, Ballmer said such information was shared with other makers of software

and hardware to try to improve Microsoft’s products.

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