Upcoming Connect releases, bugs and sneak peeks
The Connect development team has been hard at work for a while on our upcoming releases. As the Connect Site mentions, we have a major release scheduled for this fall. That will be Connect version 2.2. Version 2.1 is being deployed within the next few weeks. Version 2.1 is primarily driven by changes needed to fully embrace Windows Live ID (previously known as Microsoft Passport) and some other changes we had to make within a certain timeframe.
It also has many bug fixes, stability and performance improvements. But there will be very few visible changes to the Microsoft Connect site in version 2.1; rather you should see improvements in the overall experience.
Now Version 2.2- that's under active development right now. I'll be posting about some of the upcoming changes as I have time. For version 2.2, we're calling it a "major" release, but it's almost entirely focusing on bug fixes, implementing customer suggestions and improving architecture/tooling so we can better support the site, reduce the amount of end-user support required, and in general create a better experience for our customers.
One of the main factors in Connect 2.2 is customer focus. To that end, we're really putting the Connect web site to work (see http://connect.microsoft.com/Connect) and working the bugs and suggestions you've filed.
For example, I just finished implementing some changes to the Advanced Feedback Search page. These were suggested by a Connect user. Actually, the bug suggests a number of improvements to the Advanced Search system- we're not implementing all of them in version 2.2, but we are adding some and rolling up a couple that weren't in the suggestion, but have been requested quite often by other users.
The big one that's not going to make it into Connect 2.2 is being able to search by submitter- but we know that's a much-requested feature. In terms of implementation, when you want to see all the bugs submitted by a user, or to view bugs you've commented on, voted on, etc- that's not really a "search" so much as a way to browse. We're working on a way to browse feedback, sort it and find what you need more easily. Searching/Advanced Search is one component of that.
I'm hoping we can get to allowing you to click a submitter's name on the Feedback Overview page and be presented with a list of all the feedback that person has submitted, for example.
At any rate, here's a screenshot of what the new Advanced Search form will look like in Connect 2.2. Keep in mind that this is subject to further change, but this is what we're working on at the moment.
The new criteria include being able to filter on the number of votes, the average rating, and when the item was created or last updated. Other changes to improve navigation, making the back/forward buttons work properly, and adding more (sortable) columns to the results page are also being added.
As I have time, I'll continue to post about what we're up to on the Connect site for upcoming versions, including what's coming after 2.2. If you've filed a bug on the Connect site about Connect itself, you can expect we'll be looking into it and trying to get it fixed as quickly as we can. Not all of them are going to be fixed in 2.2- there's quite a few to take care of- but we're working as diligently as we can toward zero known bugs.
