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Microsoft Demands Removal Of Longhorn Images

Posted by timothy on from the now-there's-a-marketing-move dept.

bonch writes "After the previously reported release of the Longhorn beta at this year's WinHEC, Neowin and other Windows sites are reporting that Microsoft is going around sending legal letters demanding removal of Longhorn Build 5048 screenshots. Paul Thurrott discusses it on his site, stating that Microsoft never told anyone beforehand not to post screenshots of the publicly available beta, and links to the new galleries he has up now. 'Enjoy it while it lasts.'"

5 of 540 comments (clear)

  1. I'm not surpised.. by Anita+Coney · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The screen shots I've seen so far have been UTTERLY unimpressive. Essentially XP with a different color scheme. IE 6, Media Player 10, etc, etc, etc.

    It's hard to hype a product when there is so much evidence showing the opposite.

    --
    If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
  2. Purchase Music? by NullProg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Look at the screen shop showing "My Music".
    Now look at the top left explorer bar and see the link that says "Purchase Music".

    Could this be why? Where does the link go? Isn't that illegal in the settlement with the justice dept/EU.

    Just curious,
    Enjoy

    --
    It's just the normal noises in here.
  3. What is Microsoft trying to hide? by mcwop · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Longhorn, looks pretty much the same as current Windows. Wait I think I answered my own question. Microsoft does not people to see the screens because the screens are boring, and unlikely to generate much excitement

    So in Longhorn, can I drag documents onto a button on the taskbar to open it, rather than holding the mouse down waiting for the app to appear?

    --

    "I don't think it's selfish, to eat defenseless shellfish." -NOFX

  4. Now that really is funny... by Eminence · · Score: 4, Interesting
    ...before it was just a bunch of pathetic screens of what looked like skinned XP, no earthshaking technology, no innovation, nothing. Now, it's a prized intellectual property. Oh, come on...

    Interesting, BTW, how all those car magazines get away with pictures of pre-production prototytpes snapped during their road-tests. Somehow, car manufacturers don't see a problem there.

    Having said that, if he agreed not to do it he shouldn't. Period.

  5. Re:Microsoft is pointing fingers wrong way... by pla · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Instead of spinning it as beta

    I think the problem here comes from just how not beta Microsoft considers the overall GUI shown in those screenshots...

    They promised to "wow" us all with a whole new Windows experience, and gave us exactly what most of us expected all along - XP with a makeover, which itself amounted to nothing more than Win95 with a makeover.

    And right about now, we have a whole lot of people at MS updating their resumes as a result of the massively underwhelmed response from not just "those Linux freaks" who would damn Billy G even if he found a cure for AIDS, cancer, and the flu all in the same day, but from fairly pro-Windows media who paid just to fly to see a demo of a beta of MS's Next Big Thing (tm)