Everyone's excited for Windows 10. I get that. Working at Windows Central it's naturally more obvious than in many other walks of life. The desktop previews are well under way and are largely being well received. But the dark horse in the room is Windows 10 for phones. We've only seen a small glimpse of it officially, no videos were allowed at the January 21 event and there are a lot of Windows Phone nerds around the world chewing their fingers off to try it out.
But here's the thing. Shouting your mouth off or just generally being a clown to Microsoft employees isn't going to make it arrive any faster. It's really disappointing to see so much of it going on right now.
Looking through the Twitter streams that belong to the likes of Joe Belfiore and in particular, Gabe Aul, highlights what I'm talking about. A couple of examples:
"@GabeAul between 13 to 16 feb,Year 6131? u lazy fellows are already late in testing, still how many years u r gonna test our frustration?""@GabeAul The big thing now on everyone's mind is WIN TEN! The next thing getting on everyone's nerve is for PHONE WHEN?""why @joebelfiore @GabeAul you don't listen Millions of fans crying, waiting need #Windows10 for phone - today
Excitement is great. It shows Windows 10 is in peoples minds, it shows it's a product people want to have. But the fact we don't have it yet is "getting on everyone's nerves" or Microsoft is not "listen(ing) to millions of fans crying" is absurd. These people have a job to do. You're not going to make them do it any faster. And being a dick about it won't to anything to change that.
Because here's the thing. First up, it's a Technical Preview. We're lucky that Microsoft is so open about its future products that it's letting the wider world test it. You don't get that everywhere. Apple, for example, only lets paid up members of its developer program get early access to its new mobile software. It's a privilege to be able to test this stuff, not a right.
It's not to say the whole community is reacting this way, far from it. But we see some of it here, too, in the comments at Windows Central. Microsoft employees are not obliged to respond to your angry tweets, so instead of demanding responses from them or calling them lazy, why not treat them with the respect they deserve? How would you feel if some total stranger called into your place of work and called you lazy or started hassling you to get your work done faster?
Let's be excited together. But let's not be a dick about it.
