Finding anything on a Microsoft website is the biggest user experience pain I have ever encountered.
The fact that Google does not seem to index any of the Microsoft sites properly (which is probably Microsoft's fault in the first place) does not help at all.
I will often search for a piece of software or an SDK on Google only to have the first hit be a still active page to an ancient version of the software in question; the newest version being buried somewhere on page two. (try and search for something like '.net download'. The first hit is 4.5, the second is 4.0, the newest is 4.5.2, the closest hit for that being number 6 and found on filehippo instead of an official Microsoft page)
That and the fact that Microsoft decides to arbitrarily and routinely change the name of everything they produce or deprecate software/SDKs/documentation without informing the user at all and naturally failing to point to the 'new and recommended' alternative are my biggest gripes.
Comments
Not surprised in the slightest.
Finding anything on a Microsoft website is the biggest user experience pain I have ever encountered.
The fact that Google does not seem to index any of the Microsoft sites properly (which is probably Microsoft's fault in the first place) does not help at all. I will often search for a piece of software or an SDK on Google only to have the first hit be a still active page to an ancient version of the software in question; the newest version being buried somewhere on page two. (try and search for something like '.net download'. The first hit is 4.5, the second is 4.0, the newest is 4.5.2, the closest hit for that being number 6 and found on filehippo instead of an official Microsoft page)
That and the fact that Microsoft decides to arbitrarily and routinely change the name of everything they produce or deprecate software/SDKs/documentation without informing the user at all and naturally failing to point to the 'new and recommended' alternative are my biggest gripes.
Try figuring out what the latest service pack for any given product seems all but impossible.