No, Microsoft Didn’t Promise Sets for the Next Windows 10 Version (Premium)

Microsoft’s communications missteps are legion, and the firm found itself in familiar hot water this week. The issue? A tabbed window feature called Sets may not be ready in time for the next version of Windows 10.

So here’s the caveat that sort-of saves Microsoft from the ravaging that they so often deserve: In the email message to Windows Insiders that announced this feature, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson does technically raise the possibility that this might happen. That is, 797 words into an 853-word message, he relates the following pertinent fact:

“[Set and other features] … are not necessarily tied to the next major update.”

The communicator in me feels the need to point this out because it is not clear, or obvious. And I feel like them mentioning this fact early on, and even multiple times, would have been the better choice. But there it is. He does mention it.

There is one other very vague hint about Sets and other major new features possibly not making it in time for the next Windows 10 release, which is codenamed Redstone 4 and expected in early 2018. He notes in the second paragraph that Microsoft is “hard at work on future updates to Windows 10.” Not the next update. But future updates.

This is possibly a change from previous versions, in the sense that Microsoft will typically discuss the next version, and that that is what Insiders are testing at any given moment. I don’t recall any discussion about Microsoft working on multiple versions simultaneously. Regardless, this appears to be the first formal acknowledgment that Insiders are now testing features that may span multiple Windows 10 versions.

But the big issue is communications. It always is. And, to be clear, I’m not calling out Terry: It’s not like he sat down at a computer and wrote that email message himself or in one shot. He has an army of employees that can fine-tune the messaging. Which is, ultimately, what makes this kind of thing so disappointing.

Doubly disappointing, I feel like my career has spiraled downward at times into being that guy who calls them out on these things. But don’t shoot the messenger: I feel like it is important to now call out that this admittedly more minor infraction comes on the heels of the misdirections around Timeline, a feature Microsoft promised for RS3 and then pretended otherwise.

“Timeline, along with other cross-device features, was explicitly promised for the Fall Creators Update,” I explained in Yes, Microsoft Did Promise Timeline for the Fall Creators Update. I provide many examples.

Anyway, Sets.

What’s funny about Sets—and I mean funny odd, not funny ha-ha—is that there was already a lot of controversy around this feature when Microsoft announced it.

For starters, it was announced via an email message to Insiders, which was a first. Microsoft has a public blog for these kinds of announcements. Why on earth would it need an email message to communicate this?

Worse, Microsoft revealed that it would do A/B testing—“a controlled study”—on Sets, meaning that some Insiders would get the feature early and some would get it much, much later. “It could be a while,” Mr. Myerson warned.

This set off the Insider community in predictable ways, and while I’m no fan of faux indignation, I’m taking their side on this one: Microsoft has different rings for A/B testing and those people who explicitly sign up to get new features first should—wait for it—actually get new features first. This is an inexcusable breach of trust.

OK, so now we know—though, again, some careful reading of the original email message would have hinted at this—that Sets might not make it into Redstone 4. I asked Mary Jo Foley, who, unlike me, had actually been briefed about Sets before the announcement, whether she was told that Sets might not make it to RS4.

The answer? Yes, they did. Microsoft told her explicitly that there was no commitment on when Sets (or Timeline, for that matter) might be added to Windows 10. How wonderfully clear.

So they did communicate it. To some press and bloggers. And vaguely in an email message to Insiders. I feel this isn’t good enough, but … They did communicate it.

What’s important to remember here, really, is that this is worth discussing for more than the usual communication complaints reasons. Sets is important. Sets looks like a big productivity improvement for Windows 10, and one that will benefit all users, and not just power users.

Anyway, now we know for sure what the schedule is: There isn’t one. We can disagree about how this was communicated, as I have done. And we can disagree about the way they will test this feature with Insiders, as I have done too. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that Microsoft isn’t just adding silly features to Windows 10 to pad out each release. It’s also working on important productivity improvements—Sets, Timeline, and more—too. And the reason this is so aggravating is that we’re all just really excited to test these features.

Which, by the way, could happen as soon as today. Stay tuned.