The latest on the buggy September Office patches.
In the last issue we told you about some buggy Office updates that are best ignored. What progress from Microsoft after a fortnight?
The Office 2010 patches that got themselves into an infinite loop of updating are apparently now fixed.
The Never Ending Office updates have, apparently, been fixed. You can download and install these updates:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2760583/(KB 2760583)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2760411/(KB 2760411)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2760588/(KB 2760588)
No word on the broken Office 2013 patch. The relevant KB article hasn’t been touched since 10 Sept 2013 with not even a mention of the problems you might have installing the update. Really extraordinarily arrogant of Microsoft, who seem to think that a blog post is enough to cover themselves while their own official Knowledge Base remains with no warning.
The other thing missing is some acknowledgment or apology from senior Microsoft management. Some commentators have been surprised at the drop in quality of Office updates, but it doesn’t surprise us at all. For a long time any problems with Office updates have been hidden away. Hidden not just from customers but also from Microsoft staff who continue in blissful ignorance of past mistakes. When there’s a bug in Office, Microsoft first reaction is to hide it from the public. It’s treated as a PR problem not a technical issue. When the people who make the updates aren’t wary or aware of past mistakes, it’s understandable that problems keep happening.
What’s needed is a public apology from senior management. That would send a message to customers that the company is trying to improve the quality of updates and send a message to Microsoft staff that they have to lift their game.
