When Software Leaks (and What Really Goes Down)

Bryant writes "The Windows community is somewhat notorious for leaks from upcoming versions of Windows (obligatory link to this guy since that's most of what he does), and while the official PR word from Microsoft and many other companies with regards to leaks is a simple 'no comment,' no one has really gotten a candid, inside look at the various things that go down when word, screenshots, or builds of upcoming software leak. I managed to get some time with a senior Microsoft employee for the sake of discussing leaks, and the conclusions reached (leaks heavily affect communication, not so much the product schedule) as well as what these guys actually have to deal with whenever someone leaks a build, breaks an embargo, etc. may actually be a surprise given what most companies try to instill in the public mind."

Comments

You know

[Turzyx]

It's suprising how many times one person can, you know, say "you know" in one interview. For the record, it was 22 times, don't you know...

Re:You know

[dj_tla]

It's common practice for a journalist to strip those nonsense syllables from an audio interview transcribed to text. Just sayin'.

Re:I always had the impression

[Foredecker]

I'm a relatively senior development manager in Windows and no, they are not calculated or deliberate. There is no super secrete leak committee. Leaks are a big hassle.

Re:I always had the impression

[dbIII]

It's not just the early 1990s - remember all the things that Longhorn was supposed to do and how it was going to be an OS X killer? What we actually got was Vista with it's main redeeming feature being eyecandy no better than we saw in the Enlightenment window manager back before Slashdot even existed, let alone what OS X was by the time Vista came out.