I knew this before, as it has been stated by marketing zombies at the Redmond company, but its the first time I have seen it states as blunt as in this interview with Mr. Gates himself.
Basically: Microsoft does not release software to fix bugs. Many people would argue they don’t fix bugs at all, and after reading this interview, I would say that Mr. Gates all but confirms that.
FOCUS Magazine Interview with Bill Gates: Microsoft Code Has No Bugs
FOCUS:
But there are bugs an any version which people would really like to have fixed.
Gates:
No! There are no significant bugs in our released software that any significant number of users want fixed.
FOCUS:
Oh, my God. I always get mad at my computer if MS Word swallows the page numbers of a document which I printed a couple of times with page numbers. If I complain to anybody they say “Well, upgrade from version 5.11 to 6.0”.
Gates:
No! If you really think there’s a bug you should report a bug. Maybe you’re not using it properly. Have you ever considered that?
FOCUS:
Yeah, I did…
Gates:
It turns out Luddites don’t know how to use software properly, so you should look into that. — The reason we come up with new versions is not to fix bugs. It’s absolutely not. It’s the stupidest reason to buy a new version I ever heard. When we do a new version we put in lots of new things that people are asking for. And so, in no sense, is stability a reason to move to a new version. It’s never a reason.