Microsoft might be finally getting a little bit more helpful

Microsoft has had a tough old time over the last few weeks (mainly thanks to Tay the racist AI) but it looks like things might be turning a corner for them. Or at the very least finally making things that little bit easier for its users. Updates might be the bane of any office workers life but from the looks of it this is one worth doing.

With the recent Windows 10 Roadmap site going live over the weekend, they have released a few interesting tweaks and features that might entice users to make the update. However, one thing that often concerns Microsoft users about updates (and lets face it pretty much any office worker) is the ‘Blue Screen of Death’. The Blue Screen of Death (or BSoD as it’s known) happens when a Windows computer system has a fatal system error or system crash where the operating system can no longer operate safely. It is annoyingly hard to understand and often makes Windows users a little weary of updates, which may trigger the death page on older machines. Plus no one likes trying to look busy while your computer completes what feels like 10 years worth of updates.

Luckily, a particularly beady eyed Redditor noticed that Microsoft appears to finally updating it with * gasp* actually helpful information. Instead of simply seeing the standard notification that you ‘ran into a problem’, there is now a QR code allowing users to learn more about the problem with their PC.

Currently the code does only point to a page on the company website explaining the possible causes of a BSoD, but in all likelihood it will be updated with more information about specific errors as Windows 10 progresses. It’s important to remember with any of update roadmap, that features (such as this one) are ‘in public review’, but in this instance I’d say there is a reasonable chance of it happening.

It appears to be a move to a more helpful and open Microsoft, which is traditionally something they may have lacked from a public perspective. Other interesting updates include support for biometric security (perhaps going the way of Mastercard’s selfie pay?), improved AI assistant Cortana and possibly best of all, new ninja cat emojis.