Consumers who are members of the Xbox Alpha Testing Group were surprised to learn this week that the latest Alpha updates are a little more destructive than simply not working. One of these updates may not fully realize one of the new features that are still being tested, but this is not the case with the latest update at all. This actually resets the entire Xbox to factory settings and basically wipes everything off the console.
Members of the Insider Test Group turned on both Series S and Series Xbox consoles and faced a rather concise message saying “There was a problem with the update.”
This message was shared by insider test members testing members on social media sites such as Reddit and confirmed that it was not an individual issue. There were fixes such as trying to install old firmware or simply avoiding this update completely, but I couldn’t do much after the update became entrenched. Thankfully, Xbox backs up to the cloud, so the most lost was that screenshots and video captures were kept locally, and a lot of wasted time redownloading everything.
Furthermore, this is a kind of point in the early access program for new updates. Most updates are fine, but essentially just a crash test to ensure things can be ironed before going to anyone who didn’t sign up for a volatile update. In that sense, even buggy updates are successful, as Microsoft can push out the problem area.
But it’s a nightmare for every software engineer and programmer, like waking up at night with a cold sweat. Unfortunately, it cannot be avoided if there is certainty. The software must ultimately be tested, and there are always unpredictable variables, as prepared before the team is pushed out into the first group of testers.
But the important lesson you need to know is that accepting the audience is this dynamic. In this case, people signed up to be part of this program and fully understood that it was at best unstable. But for a larger audience? This will never fly. You can arm that information and put a lot of pressure aside.
However, if you are participating in the insider program, wait a little while before updating your Xbox.
