21 December 2004

One of the areas where the non-Microsoft world has long criticized Microsoft is in their use of a closed bug and issue tracking system. The open-source world, in particular, claims that having an public submission process is one of their key benefits.

With Visual Studio 2005 and .NET 2.0, Microsoft has launched what is apparently a little publicized and little-known public submission web site for bugs and suggestions. It was code-named Ladybug, and is now called the Product Feedback Center.

Not that it is totally unheard of, or unused. Ladybug is rumored to be the primary motivation in C# getting edit-and-continue. E&C wasn’t even on the C# feature list, but large numbers of ex-VB developers who are now enjoying semi-colons apparently voted E&C to the top of the Ladybug wish list, putting pressure on Microsoft to add the feature.

True story? I don’t know, but that’s the rumor.

The point being, Microsoft pays attention to the stuff on this site. If you have a bug or issue in VB, C#, ASP.NET or whatever you should make sure to report it on Ladybug!!!