Microsoft Pressures Testers After Software Leak

narramissic writes "ITworld reports that Microsoft is 'taking tough measures to find out who leaked a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Windows Home Server to The Hotfix.net blog.' The software preview was posted on the site by a user named 'Richard' soon after it was released to a small group of testers. In an e-mail to MVPs whose names contain 'Richard,' Kevin Beares, the Windows Home Server community lead at Microsoft, wrote: 'For right now, you have no access to the beta until I can find the Richard who posted the WHS (Windows Home Server) CTP on this site.... I will work with the Connect Admin team to determine which one of you is the real culprit of this leak.'"

Comments

The MS approach

[ACS Solver]

foreach (Tester ReallyUnluckyGuy in GetTestersByName("Richard"))
{
    ReallyUnluckyGuy.DenyAccess(Now);
    ReallyUnluckyGuy.AskQuestions(Later);
}

Re:The MS approach

[eneville]

foreach (Tester ReallyUnluckyGuy in GetTestersByName("Richard"))
{
ReallyUnluckyGuy.DenyAccess(Now);
ReallyUnluckyGuy.AskQuestions(Later);
}
foreach( sort keys %testers ) {
if( $_ =~ /^richard$/i ) {
undef $tesers{$_};
}
}

Re:The MS approach

[bsane]

Your language dictates capitalization of class names, methods, and variables? Whatever that language is, I don't think I like it.

Re:The MS approach

[His name cannot be s]

Leave it to a perl guy to *try* make some thing terse and unreadable, when he could have used javascript:

foreach (Tester ReallyUnluckyGuy in GetTestersByName("Richard"))
{
ReallyUnluckyGuy.DenyAccess(Now);
ReallyUnluckyGuy.AskQuestions(Later);
} foreach( sort keys %testers ) {
if( $_ =~ /^richard$/i ) {
undef $tesers{$_};
}
} for( each in testers )
      x = /richard/.test(testers[each]) ? PWN(testers[each]) : null;

Now they are really screwed...

[Utopia]

...for leaking the letter too.

Re:Now they are really screwed...

[ady1]

Yeah and what more is that they sent a letter with unique spellings mistakes to each of the richards. Now he's really screwed.

Re:Now they are really screwed...

[Anonymous Coward]

Richard Steel, really?? This is BobandSallyandGeorgieandDave200412.. we need to talk, I think you should probably go and get tested - for everything. Quickly. Remember, the girl with the dog and the midget friend and the guy in the bunny outfit who agreed to meet you under the northside bridge with your fat friend who was actually a blow up doll and your strange penguin machine? You need to get tested now!!

Re:Now they are really screwed...

[PPH]

Obfuscate my response, I will. - Yoda

grep /rich(?:ard)?|[dr]ick/

[Speare]

In an e-mail to MVPs whose names contain 'Richard,' Kevin Beares, the Windows Home Server community lead at Microsoft, wrote: 'For right now, you have no access to the beta until I can find the Richard who posted the WHS (Windows Home Server) CTP on this site.

Translation, "Are you the Dick who leaked?"

Dear Slashdot - Thankyou!

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear Slashdot,

Thankyou for agreeing to help publicize our new products by spreading information about our phoney leak. You have my personal assurance that if we ever find this "Richard" character, I will be certain to punish him very severely for creating public awareness of our super-innovative new server software. Gosh, I do hope no-one downloads a pirate version and sees how awesome it is!

Also, thanks for your good work on the Xbox 360. Who would have thought so many Linux dorks would be willing to buy into our wall-to-wall DRM and platform lockin?

-- Bill Gates

(This is a private email, right? IE is doing something strange....)

This should be interesting!

[Odiumjunkie]

This will be a great opportunity to get a rare insight in to the kind of proprietary, highly advanced digital fingerprinting schemes they're using at Redmond! Digital certificates, binary padding - who can say?!

The software preview was posted on the site by a user named 'Richard' soon after it was released to a small group of testers. In an e-mail to MVPs whose names contain 'Richard,'....

Oh...

Re:Wow...

[ClaraBow]

How many Dicks (I mean Richards) work for MS?

Next time try 'Bill'

[Anonymous Coward]

The next time this guy decides to leak something under a false name I suggest he try 'Bill' instead of 'Richard'.

Bill

Jeez get A Clue!

[hydertech]

Could it be Richard Stallman in the conservatory with the wrench?

Which one of you Bills?

[matt me]

Which one of you Bills is abusing your monopoly?

Not really news

[Kamineko]

"Dick leaks, causes embarassment."

That's not really front page news now, is it?

Borrow a scene from Spartacus...

[mh101]

Wouldn't it be funny if all of them contacted MS, claiming to be this Richard?

Re:Wow...

[Soldrinero]

Might it have been the Richard we're looking for?

"These are not the Richards you are looking for"

Re: Richard = Dick

[Migraineman]

That was my first reaction.

Msft: Who leaked this onto a newsgroup?
Lackey: The username on the account was "Richard."
Msft: Richard who?
Lackey: We don't know. The account name is just "Richard."
Msft: Suspend all priveledges to anyone with a "Richard" in their name!
Lackey: Sir, yes sir!
Msft: Man, this Richard guy is a real dick.
Lackey: *snickers*
Msft: What?

Re:Wow...

[cmacb]

"To be fair, it isn't that hard for a Robert to type in Richard instead."

This just in:

Kevin Beares, the Windows Home Server community lead at Microsoft, wrote in an updated memo to all testers named Richard or Robert: 'As someone on Slashdot graciously pointed out, someone name Robert might have typed in Ricard instead so for right now, you have no access to the beta until I can find the Richard (or Robert). Note, people named Kevin, Steve or Bill will not be affected at this time, however we may have to expand our search to people named Dick, Bob, Bobby, Rick, Roberto, Richardo. That is all.

WHS?

[Mathness]

Why is Microsoft even putting a lot of work into WHS? Most people have already moved onto DWD. :P

Re:NOT a Model employee

[WolfWithoutAClause]

I agree. He should have used the *full* name of another one of the testers.

Microsoft would be happy cos they'd have somebody to blame. He'd be happy because he doesn't get blamed. The poor sap that got blamed would be very unhappy.

- but that's just pure selfishness, since, as they say in Star Trek- 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.'

Re:Have you read Slashdot before?

[cyphercell]

Exactly, it's offtopic, mod everyone named Larry Offtopic!

Re: Richard = Dick

[utopianfiat]

Should have posted it under the username SteveBallmer

Re:NOT a Model employee

[nanoflower]

So if the person had used the name Bill Gates everything would have been okay?

Re:NOT a Model employee

[WolfWithoutAClause]

Only in your bizarro world where Bill Gates is on the test team.

Re:Mod Parent Up Please

[Anonymous Coward]

A friend of mine, no relationship to MS, hooked me up with the DVD

He hooked you up? Why? Do you have laser-vision? Are you some kind of robot? If so, do you use your powers for good or for awesome?