by Rob
on Friday, March 5 2010
If you ship software for Windows you've probably looked at WinQual. If you're like many companies we have talked to you've found WinQual hard to use and it has ended up in a silo or abandoned in favor of home rolled error reporting.
If you're not familiar with WinQual, it's where crash reports from applications running on Windows are sent. Developers can sign up to access reports for their products.
Why should I care?
Even if you have your own error reporting system WinQual is probably storing configuration, deployment and startup crashes that you're not even aware of. WinQual also allows you to respond to customers at the time that a crash happens providing a fix, more information or at least an acknowledgement that their problem is being investigated. It's an invaluable tool for improving quality and reducing support costs.
What is StackHash?
StackHash is a tool and community for making the most of Windows Error Reporting and WinQual.
WinQual can be slow and hard to use. It's also cut off from the rest of your development lifecycle. We're developing a rich client application that provides:
- A local store of crash events and related minidumps. There's no need to waste time wrestling with the WinQual portal. Double-click a crash to start debugging.
- Bug tracking / defect management integration. Track crashes using your current tool, assign crashes to the right developer and ensure that real-world problems aren't trapped in a silo.
- Automatic crash debugging. Let StackHash do the heavy lifting and send you a crash analysis including the call stack.
- Reporting, trend analysis and filtering tools. Understand product quality over time, geographical distribution of crashes and problem third party modules.
- Much more...
Where is the beta?
We're launching StackHash later in 2010. Right now we're looking for beta testers to help us make the best tool possible.
Sign up for the StackHash beta
Once you've signed up we'll provide you with access to our private feedback forum. The beta will roll out in several stages over the next couple of months.
If you're not responsible for WinQual / crash reporting in your organization please forward this post on to the right person. We're working on making Windows better for everyone and we need your help!
