"1 known issues found"

Here's another area MS could put some thoughts behind. I had a problem connecting my Windows Mobile device to the desktop ActiveSync. ActiveSync automatically brought up a troubleshooting tool for me. Which was really cool.

Although, this diagnosis that was given to me 10 minutes later could have been more helpful.


I got very hopeful reading "1 known issues found". Here is the full text of the diagnosis:

Unable to establish a connection between the PC and the device. [Well, I already knew this] Get up-to-date solutions to common connection problems. Please click the following link:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=65257
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No additional known issues have been found. [So where's the known issue?]
If you are still experiencing problems please send the results to Microsoft to help improve future versions.

I know how this type of contradicting messages get generated. You concatenate the counter with a static string and then concatenate it with the error message that comes from a separate method or something. The trouble is, the concatenation happens regardless of what the error message means. This type of code is quite typical. I am OK with such messages being presented to developers or IT admins. This particular diagnosis is being presented to the end-user, a consumer, in some cases.