Microsoft Opens Public IE Bug Database

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

March 27, 2006, 1:12 PM

Taking a page from Mozilla's playbook, Microsoft on Friday launched the Internet Explorer Feedback Web site, a public database that enables users to submit bugs and make suggestions for the ubiquitous browser. The system will be used for IE7 and all future releases.

Built atop the Connect platform Microsoft uses for beta testing, Internet Explorer Feedback will track issues discovered in IE7 much like the open source Bugzilla software used with Firefox. A Passport account is required, but a forthcoming update to the site will enable anyone to view existing bugs without logging in.

Beta testers will also be instructed to utilize the system to report any bugs they come across during testing. Microsoft says the site likely has a number of kinks that will be worked out, but it wanted to put it live before the IE7 Beta 2 launch, which is slated for the coming weeks.

"After much discussion on the team, we've decided that people are right and that we should have a public way for people to give us feedback or make product suggestions," IE developers said in a blog posting. "We wanted to build a system that is searchable and can benefit from the active community that IE has here."

The effort is a shift in policy for Microsoft, which has long kept bug information restricted from the public eye. Now, anyone will be able to see the number of outstanding problems with Internet Explorer, and even potentially security vulnerabilities.

Microsoft notes that "truly time sensitive bugs" should be sent through the Redmond company's normal security channels to ensure they are addressed immediately. Bugs can also be marked private, which would limit their access to Microsoft developers.

The company promises to carefully listen to feedback it receives, but acknowledges not all requests will be filled and some bugs may remain unfixed.

"Not every bug reported will necessarily be fixed. Issues reported during the IE7 Beta 2 will be looked at and we will do our best to fix issues reported to us," said IE team member Al Billings.

"We have committed to doing regular releases of Internet Explorer moving forward. Anything that we cannot fix during IE7 that is a valid issue will be considered for the next IE release following it."