back to article A day will come when Azure Active Directory 'classic' portal is killed. But it is not this day

For reasons unknown, Microsoft has decided at the last minute not to pull the plug on the old Azure Active Directory portal just yet. The "classic" portal will now retire January 8, instead of today. The new Azure admin console was first previewed September 2016, and when released in May Microsoft boasted "over 750k admins …

  1. Naselus

    Is it because...

    The new portal sucks, and doesn't even allow you to do many of the things that you could under the classic portal? Even some of MS's own guides on fairly core tasks (setting up third-party SSO through AAD, for example) instruct you to log onto the classic portal because the options needed do not exist in the new interface.

    1. TheVogon

      Re: Is it because...

      "The new portal sucks, and doesn't even allow you to do many of the things that you could under the classic portal?"

      Presumably why the classic one is being retained a while longer - while they add those features to the new one.

      1. Danny 14

        Re: Is it because...

        so assuming they are add the features in the next week you have 1 month to test and update. over Christmas too. merry christmas admins.

    2. adam_MSFT

      Re: Is it because...

      Hey Naselus!

      I am sorry that you are having a bad experience with the new portal. I am an engineer from Microsoft, and am here to help. Can you please send me a note at asteen@microsoft.com so that I can understand what problems you are having today with the new portal and help you to resolve them?

      Thanks!

      Adam.

  2. Lysenko

    Microsoft has not yet responded to a request for comment.

    Of course they haven't. The specific 800lb gorilla customer behind this (who has probably also cancelled Christmas for their IT department) probably doesn't want the degree of inertia and technical debt in their systems widely publicised.

  3. Lee D Silver badge

    Could someone please point to a single example where:

    - A portal or service of some kind exists.

    - It's supplanted without consultation by some "new" portal that doesn't work as well.

    - The company realises this and says "Hey, if you're happy with the old one, we'll keep it, don't worry".

    Because I can't think of ONE instance in which that was the case.

    Are modern companies SO expert that they can't admit to a mistake and roll-back, or even just run old-and-new in tandem and let you freely choose until there's a clear majority of preference?

    Everything from the start menu (sure, we shoved it back in several versions later but didn't bother to actually change the versions that were forced onto Metro even though they're still in support), Hotmail interfaces, DNS hosts, website CMS, banking systems... everything I ever touch that has a "new" revamped version means it's broken for the year after that, you can't do as much in the meantime, I stand a good chance of having to move my custom elsewhere, and maybe after a year or so it'll have "almost" the same functionality as the original had (usually without that one bit you really loved and that made you go with that service in the first place).

    For once I'd just like to see a company say: "When you tell *us* that it's ready, we'll change it to the default. Until then it will only be an option that we won't bug you too much about. Oh, and we'll maintain the old one for as long as we can, too."

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Windows

      NOTABUG!

      It's the Whig Theory of Rolling Cloud Upgrades (Sometimes only to change "UXxxghhh" style from flat to nonflat or the reverse or throw options into screens where they cannot be found):

      Every Cloud Upgrade is an Improvement. If it is not perceived as such, the customer doesn't understand!

    2. Lee D Silver badge

      "Our new product version is so good that nobody wants it and we have to force it on them unwillingly!"

      I just don't get how that's good for company or consumer.

      Surely, if it's that worthwhile, customers will want to test it, want to help fix it, and want to use it in preference.

  4. adam_MSFT
    Thumb Up

    Microsoft is here to help!

    Hey everyone!

    I am a Microsoft engineer who had previously responded to Naselus directly; however, since this is a broader conversation, I would love to hear from you all.

    I am sorry that you are all having a bad experience with the new portal. We are absolutely committed to our customers and want to make sure its as awesome as possible, and we are here to help. We are just about at feature parity in the new portal today, but we realize that some of the new ways of doing things may make it seem like this is not the case, or be confusing. We're sorry about that, and we want to know everything we can do to improve here

    I would welcome any of you to please send me a note at asteen@microsoft.com so that I can understand what problems you are having today with the new portal and help you to resolve them?

    Thanks!

    Adam.

    1. adam_MSFT

      Re: Microsoft is here to help!

      Also, apologies for the embarrassing grammar issues, I messed up when editing :).

    2. PeteA
      Go

      Re: Microsoft is here to help!

      Hi Adam,

      Thanks for chipping in and being keen on improving things. For what it's worth, that attitude's the real solution to this type of problem. However, as this is a broader conversation and you'd like to hear us all, let's discuss this in public so that everyone can join in and benefit :).

      Speaking broadly and bluntly, the majority of the Azure Portal is a buggy UX disaster that feels like "My First Single Page Application". It would appear to be designed for tablet use (presumably as part of the MS UI revamp, whatever they're called now. Quick list of annoyances:

      - Constant horizontal scrolling required, actual content area constricted by nested panes/trees/blades/whatever

      - Poor HTML forcing me to either use the mouse or learn your keyboard shortcuts. Incorrect element choices break my keyboard-shortcut software bindings that are part of my muscle-memory.

      - Inconsistent behaviour, sometimes an X icon will close a "thing" (dialog-like behaviour), sometimes it'll shove me back on the dashboard. Thanks.

      - Unbookmarkable URI's. I want to bookmark things I use all the time in my browser, just like other websites. URI's have to change when the logical location changes ... otherwise they're kinda worthless. Distinct URI's are for the customer's benefit, they are not the designer's optional choice.

      - "Something went wrong"... gee, thanks. WHAT went wrong (these messages appear asynchronously - humans need context too)? Some details please?

      Hey, you asked - I can't imagine I'm alone with these frustrations. Usable? Yes. Pleasant and easy? No.

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