Microsoft has products and resources that help developers build reliable applications, and that help technology professionals manage reliable networked environments. But beyond that, customers want to see continuous improvement over time. We work to increase reliability with each generation of products, and have made extensive investments in resources, tools, and processes toward this effort.
But reliability in the context of Trustworthy Computing means more to Microsoft than making reliable software and providing support. It also means being a reliable business partner, maintaining an open dialogue with our customers and industry partners, and actively seeking feedback about how we can improve our software and services.
| • | Driving the definition of Reliability throughout Microsoft. The "Five Attributes of Reliability" are resonating throughout the company and with our partners, becoming more integrated in all stages of the development life cycle. We see these five attributes accruing to greater levels of overall reliability in computing. For consumers, this is about computers working the way they are expected to work. For information technology professionals, reliability means that computing systems are predictable, require minimal maintenance, and run efficiently enough to consistently meet their desired availability service levels.
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| • | Code analysis tools in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Microsoft developers use static analysis tools such as PREfix (detects errors at compile time), PREfast (analyzes code for bugs before it is checked in), and FXCop (checks code against .NET framework design guidelines) to help increase product reliability. These products and the dynamic analysis tool AppVerifier are available to customers for the first time as components of Visual Studio 2005.
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| • | Windows Live OneCare. This online resource helps protect and maintain computers with an integrated service, including antivirus, firewall, computer maintenance, and data backup and restore functionality.
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| • | Windows Error Reporting (WER). When a software issue arises, customers can choose to send an anonymous report to Microsoft. The data is used to improve later products. Issues that cause system failure engage the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis service, which does more extensive investigation and reporting.
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| • | Reliability focus with major server releases. Major Microsoft Windows Server releases include a new kernel capable of supporting new hardware (for example, system buses), new programming models, and improved fundamentals, such as security and reliability. Changes of this nature can sometimes affect the compatibility of the new operating system with existing hardware and software. Review the Windows Server roadmap.
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| • | Integrated innovation. Customers and objective third-party analysts have found that Microsoft's integrated innovation approach results in greater out-of-box value and lower total cost of ownership as a result of better productivity, efficiency, and manageability compared with competitive offerings. Get the Facts on Windows and Linux.
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| • | Active customer feedback and response technologies. New error-reporting technology in Windows XP and Microsoft Office XP automatically detects issues, captures details of failures, and offers users the opportunity to report those details to advance product improvements. Feedback from customers and partners helps a wide range of technologies built on the Windows platform to improve over time.
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| • | Customer best practices and tips–sharing knowledge. We recently worked with customers and groups across Microsoft to develop a book highlighting best practices and tips to help IT professionals deploy and manage the reliability of their IT systems and services.
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| • | Engineering Excellence at Microsoft. This ongoing effort guides engineering positions across the company, providing training, resources, and tools for each stage of the software development cycle, along with best practices to integrate customer feedback.
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| • | Continued reliability investment in Microsoft Research. We know that developer diligence is not enough to ensure more reliable software. Microsoft continues to create and use a number of tools to help automate many aspects of code review. These tools review code, find areas for improvement before the code is checked in, prioritize software abnormalities, and run tests so that new and changed code can be tested first. |
| • | Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF). Continued investment in the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) provides operational guidance that enables organizations to achieve mission-critical system reliability, availability, supportability, and manageability of Microsoft technologies.
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| • | Windows Server 2003. Quality improvements contributed to a 69 percent reduction in security bulletins rated as critical or important after the release of Windows Server 2003, compared with the first year of Windows Server 2000. Reliability enhancements also have reduced total downtime four-fold over Windows 2000.
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| • | Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005: improved real-time communications reliability. Telecom Italia Group wanted to improve real-time communications reliability. Upgrading from Live Communications Server 2003 to Live Communications Server 2005, the company welcomed the new system architecture,which provides clustering and failover features that improve system availability and reliability. Read the case study.
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| • | Microsoft SQL Server 2005: better database availability and reliability. SQL Server 2005 will increase database availability and reliability and dramatically reduce downtime by using innovative, high-availability features.
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| • | Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM). Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 helps reduce the complexity associated with managing today's IT infrastructure environment, effectively managing increased reliability in operations.
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