This notification was generated for feedback item: <...> which you submitted at the Microsoft Connect (http://connect.microsoft.com) site.
Thank you for taking the time to report this problem. This problem was reported two years ago. In an effort to focus our resources on the most impactful problems, we are closing old Connect issues. If this problem is still important to you, please go to https://community.visualstudio.com and follow the instructions there to file a new report.
How many Microsoft engineers you need to change a light bulb? None. Microsoft simply announces darkness the new standard.
* - (please don't take it seriously)
That's not the case. The bugreport that they closed is still actual in the latest version.
This is not a case of it's fixed in x, or you should upgrade to y, it is neglect plain and simple.
I asked about this exact issue when they did an AMA in the SQL Server subreddit a while back, and I shit you not the response was that 'for a few years the team didn't have a lot of resources'... That's right, MS doesn't have the resources to properly support and develop SQL Server and the surrounding development tools.
They were also encouraging everyone to vote on the connect items, as they were using vote count as the priority indicator for addressing issues. No intake triage, just get enough votes and maybe then they'll think about fixing some bugs.
I simply don't use their tools any more where I can avoid it, and where I can't I'm looking for longer term replacement plans.
This is an admission that they probably never gave a damn about your bug reports. But hey: if you'd like to help this multibillion dollar company to triage their bugs and re-file an updated issue they would appreciate it.
In reality, it's not that easy. There have been times where, in projects that I have been involved, I wanted to fix a certain issue but the time required to setup, reproduce, investigate, fix and test against that and other versions, just adds up to a point where you cannot focus on the other equally important (new development) tasks at hand. So overtime, issues which might look easy to fix or interesting, do get piled up.
There are active bug reports and feature suggestions for SQL Server that are more than a decade old.
That mail does seem to point to a place where users can report this afresh if it's still relevant. So, not a bad approach, to get these bug reports to hopefully in a more relevant and manageable state.
I received a similar response to a bug report a few years back, it had been open for a couple of years without even being acknowledged, then one day they decided to close it with a form letter listing possible reasons. People continued to upvote it, and finally 3 1/2 years after it was filed it finally got fixed. No interaction from anyone at MS other than the form response, and the final status change. I've filed about a dozen bugs reports on connect - and this is one of the few 'success' stories, sadly.
User engagement at MS is very broken.
In other words, bugtracker bankruptcy is never nice, and the risk of discouraging users from filing bugs is significant.
Google did that with Android several times, and another poster mentions Apple does that too.
