It looks like the Windows 7 team has been pretty busy over the past month and a half.On the Engineering Windows 7 blog, Microsoft has listed the 36 changes it has made to Windows 7 since the beta release. Most of the tweaks are to the user interface and most are helpful and improve navigation. Other enhancements are to Windows Media Player, Control Panel, touch-screen capabilities, and Windows Explorer and Libraries.As I glanced over the list written by Windows senior program manager Chaitanya Sareen, I nodded in agreement about tweaks such as more keyboard shortcuts for the taskbar, room for more icons in the taskbar and limiting the amount of items in a jump list.But I also couldn’t help but ask myself: “Isn’t it a little late for this many changes?” It’s not that the changes are frivolous — though Windows blogger Paul Thurrott would beg to differ, calling it a “laundry list of tiny changes” — it just seems that this many UI changes should not be part of the release candidate of an operating system. Microsoft Watch blogger Joe Wilcox wrote that it’s disconcerting that Microsoft is relying so heavily on feedback from literally millions of people with different tastes and also that tweaks this late in the game are to desktop features, and not compatibility testing and bug fixes. “Major UI changes should have been made long ago,” Wilcox writes. “Software development shouldn’t be a democratic process, at least not one with a population of millions of testers. Design by committee is a design for failure.”It’s always good to listen to your customers, but Microsoft looks like it is frantically making 11th hour changes just to show that it cares. You can’t please everybody.What do you think? Is Microsoft making too many interface changes too late and over-listening to testers? Related content opinion Last Words Before Closing Eye on Microsoft By Shane O'Neill Jun 05, 2013 3 mins Small and Medium Business Tablets Windows opinion With Rumored Reorg, Microsoft Tries to Simplify The mounting pressure on Steve Ballmer to streamline Microsoft is finally leading to some action. By Shane O'Neill Jun 03, 2013 3 mins IT Strategy Cloud Computing Computers and Peripherals opinion What You Need to Know About the New Lync and Skype Integration Audio calls and instant messaging are officially integrated between Lync and Skype, but no video connectivity yet. Here are some key points for users and IT admins about the new Lync-Skype connection. By Shane O'Neill May 29, 2013 3 mins Small and Medium Business Internet VoIP opinion Microsoft Should Leave the Competition Out of Ads Microsoft is in no position to disparage Google and Apple in TV ads, yet it keeps doing it. A new ad for Microsoft Surface turns inward and gets it right. By Shane O'Neill May 23, 2013 2 mins Small and Medium Business Tablets Internet Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe