Microsoft allegedly has "no idea" about "serious flaw" that blocks new Windows 11 features

Recently, Microsoft has been promising some very delightful things for Windows 11. For example, the company is testing going 100% native for its apps in order to improve performance, and early results show promising gains.

However, new features like these are not immediately released to everyone as they could be buggy, and this has been the case for Insider channels too, which Microsoft refers to as Gradual Rollout or staggered rollout. The company refers to this practice as Continuous Feature Rollout (CFR).

This can be quite frustrating for such users who are flighting Insider channels, as at the end of the day, they are enthusiasts who very much want to experience every new thing Windows has in store, but Microsoft would rather do A/B testing at every stage just to be on the safe side so as not to break things.

Microsoft, however, was aware that users may want new features available to them sooner, and as such, it added a new "Get the latest updates as soon as they're ready for your PC" simple toggle CFR feature to enable quicker update rollouts and also expanded related functionalities towards Windows 10.

Regardless, many are still not as happy with how Gradual Rollout works, as a recent post on the Windows 11 subreddit highlights. The user horizon936 wrote: "I get that Microsoft got some heat recently, felt threatened and finally started to prioritize beneficial software features, optimizations and debloating, as well as engaging more with its userbase, including constantly hyping them up for what's to come. And I appreciate it. ... However, now that the testing channels are as robust, prolonged and engaged with as ever, I find this overreliance on gradual rollouts absolutely ridiculous and, frankly, infuriating. ... At this point I would honestly prefer dead silence from the PR team over this overengagement about features that never seem to really manifest. Every two weeks there's something large that my news feed gets bombarded with ... And it never comes. ... never rolls out until I've completely forgotten I was ever excited about the feature. ..."

The rant seems to resonate with many, as it has received a high number of upvotes too, and it's not just on Reddit that people find this a bit irking. Neowin readers, too, like leonsk29, also said a similar thing recently when they commented: "And all of this will be delivered on next month's optional C update... on a staggered rollout basis. So, yeah, cross your fingers and hope that Microsoft selects your PC to enable the new stuff, because you won't have any control over it other than using ViveTool. Stupid stuff, indeed. You could get all of it on day 1, or 6 months later, who knows? Some Microsoft AI selecting candidates remotely, apparently."

What really caught my attention on that Reddit post though, was a user alleging that Microsoft support itself reportedly had "no idea" about how this works. The user states: "I reported to Microsoft after they inquired from my posts on Reddit about these Gradual Rollout Features not appearing in Windows 11. Microsoft Technical Engineering group (or whatever the name of it was called) spent 3 days on my computers. The last chat response from them is "gradual rollout functionality seems to have a series[sic] flaw in the background processes that are not allowing the features to enable correctly." When I asked what exactly that means, Microsoft wrote "basically we have no idea why these features are not enabling," .... Each time Microsoft does not really providing[sic] an answer. They go adbandon[sic] you with closing your case, ignoring your emails, and then threaten to close your Microsoft account. However, during all these tests, a Microsoft account was never used or needed. A local user account had been used the entire time on these computers."

Now, to be fair, it's the internet, and so anyone can claim anything on here, but assuming this post is indeed the case, that even the technical support from Microsoft does not quite understand CFR rollouts properly or is unable to fix the "serious flaw" that's impacting it, then the Windows update department probably needs to have a better introspection soon. Of course, it is also entirely possible that the Redditor Fit-Middle-5407 is simply making this all up to gain upvotes and perhaps to "karma farm", but again, if true, it seems at least a bit shameful.

On the positive side though the company is trying to improve it with a newly revamped Insider channel program, and we hope these "issues" get ironed out here.