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

I always had the impression

[Presto Vivace]

the Microsoft leaks were a calculated way to build public interest in new products. But what do I know.

Re:I always had the impression

[Anonymous Coward]

I think they still are, this guy was talking about unplanned leaks, which would mean that there are also planned leaks.

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

[SEWilco]

secrete leak

Heh.

Re:I always had the impression

[Sir_Lewk]

There is no super secrete leak committee.

See, this statement is logically flawed.

If you knew about it, and told us it existed, then it would not in fact be "secrete" and thus not exist. Your absense of knowledge of this "super secrete" committee is similarly in no way prove of it's nonexistance. Furthermore, if the the committee does in fact exist and you are aware of it, then you denying its existance would be expected.

Re:I always had the impression

[larkost]

Never show a child or a fool a thing half-finished.

Then how exactly are we supposed to show management that we are actually getting something done?

Re:I always had the impression

[Anonymous Coward]

That's what PowerPoint is for. You have to speak to them in their own language (i.e. pictures and text so simple as to be inaccurate) ;)

Re:I always had the impression

[6ULDV8]

That's exactly what I'd expect the Secret Leak Committee to say.

Re:I always had the impression

[hairyfeet]

Or to bullshit the press and the competition when your product doesn't cut the mustard, see The yellow road to Cairo as an example. No matter what you think of MSFT you really have to give them credit, because their early 90s products compared to the competition (NextSTEP, OS2, even System 7) were really pretty shitty, but by throwing enough BS and a few well placed leaks with the press they made everyone think they had a super OS waiting in the wings just getting the finishing touches put on it.

To be able to kick the competitor's asses without actually having a product is pretty damned impressive in my book, and proves that in the right hands with careful planning leaks can be a powerful tool. What was it old Jack Trammell said? Business is war? Well it is pretty impressive to me to kick your competition off the battlefield by just the illusion of having the bigger gun.

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

[turing_m]

As a matter of fact, the actual "accent" or "dialect" we possess, or rather the lack of an accent or dialect

Yes, after all those thousands of years English has been evolving and mutating, it finally finds perfect expression without accent or dialect in, of all places, Minnesota, USA. Coincidentally, where you were born and raised. What are the chances? How lucky you are!

p.s. when your bridge gets fixed, consider a road trip.

Oh, THOSE leaks

[domulys]

It took me a few minutes to realize that we were't talking about memory leaks.

I've been spending too much time with Valgrind lately...

Re:'Surprise'

[SilverHatHacker]

This causes my phone to ring which is a pain in the ass

I suggest you don't sit on it when it's set on "Power-vibrate".

Windows 7’s biggest threat: journalists

[David Gerard]

As Microsoft's launch of Windows 7 continues to attract small amounts of attention, it today issued a plea through its network of objective opinion-shapers: Don’t let the journalists near it.

“We understand that many journalists use Macs,” said CNet marketing marketer Don Reisinger. “This means they necessarily suckle at the Satanic rear passage of Steve Jobs. We cannot countenance their bias and 'reality' leaks. Journalists are responsible for all those signs outside computer shops offering to replace Vista with XP. When was the last time you saw the entire technology field stop and wait for an announcement from any other company besides Apple? It’s so unfair!”

Smears and slanders also come from obsessive overweight nerdy Mac-using Linux geek troublemakers who run “benchmarks” and “tests.” “It’s horrifying leaks and bias from the ‘reality’-based community,” said ZDNet marketing marketer Mary Jo Enderle. “We understand that, just because Vista was 40% slower than XP and Windows 7 is the same speed as Vista, the nattering nabobs of negativism are already writing press releases condemning it as ‘not enough of an improvement’ - based entirely on unauthorised leaks of the official beta and RC. It’s so unfair!”

“Mactards are like concentration camp guards,” said Guardian marketing marketer Jack Schofield, “brutalising ‘I’m A PC’ users and” [This comment has been removed by a Guardian moderator. Replies may also be deleted.]

“The only reason Vista failed was because Microsoft planned for it to fail,” said Reisinger in an earlier ad-banner troll post. “It was a fantastically subtle double-bluff! They did the honorable thing in the face of the vile calumnies spread by Apple. It’s so unfair!”

Microsoft debuted Windows 7 on a new 17 Asus Eee Ultra-Portable Mini-Netbook with 8GB memory and a 2GHz quad-core processor. Battery life is up to twenty minutes in preliminary tests.

Real security slows things down too much.

[Kenja]

Real security slows things down too much, so companies get by with "good enough" and then get litigious if things go wrong.

Old news - leaking Windows since 1983

[linebackn]

It's not like Microsoft's "leaks" are anything new. I have even found references on old archived newsgroups to people discussing pre-release Windows 1.0 as early as late 1983 (although perhaps not "leaked" if they were meant to have it). Late 1983 was when Microsoft was promoting this vapor-ware product in magazines such as Byte in order to upstage the now forgotten VisiCorp Visi On and this little product about to be announced from Apple called the Macintosh. Of course it was not officially release until 1985. There is even a late 1984 pre-release still floating around.

Microsoft wants people to get their hands on their software. They make it available to developers, testers, and reviewers. And if they wave their hand to others and say "ah-ah-ah you aren't allowed to have that" then people start drooling over this tempting forbidden software rather than seeing it as just another pile of bits. It is an inexpensive way to produce publicity.

So what do we take away vis a vis open source?

[PCM2]

Compare to Linux, for example, where "leaking an unfinished build" is a total non-issue. Even expected, in fact. So whether the leaks are intentional or not, if they are a problem, then it sounds like they're a problem of Microsoft's own making.

My software doesn't leak

[noidentity]

I use Java, so my software doesn't have memory leaks.