[Infowarrior] - Who Leaked Windows 7?

[Richard Forno]

December 30, 2008 8:50 PM
Who Leaked Windows 7?
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/windows_7/who_leaked_windows_7.html

News Commentary. BitTorrent brought the Christmas present Santa  
didn't: Leaked build of Windows 7, which official Beta 1 release is  
perhaps days away. Was this a craftily-timed Microsoft marketing leak?

I sure as hell think so. It's certainly what I would do if I worked at  
Microsoft on Windows evangelism. The timing is perfect, from a  
marketing perspective. The leaked build hit BitTorrent sometime on  
Saturday, right after Christmas when the Windows geeks had nothing  
better to do and bloggers and journalists had nothing better to write  
about. The leaked build is designated "7000," which strongly suggests  
that the code is the same as forthcoming Beta 1, or close to it.

The slowest news week of the year is going on right now. Everybody and  
anybody is writing year-end reviews and making stupid predictions  
about 2009. It's not because they care so much about the past or the  
future. They don't have much to write about now, because most tech  
companies are closed or running minimal staffs. Meanwhile, the big  
announcements are being saved for Macworld Expo (Jan. 5-9) and the  
Consumer Electronics Show (Jan. 8-11).

What perfect timing to create buzz for Seven? Windows beta leaks used  
to be fairly common, but Microsoft has clamped down on them under the  
tenure of Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of the Windows and  
Windows Live Engineering Group. This leak is surprising because of  
Steven's record managing Office development: Few leaks. Heck, were  
there any?

Something else: Microsoft doesn't seem all the rattled by the leak.  
That reaction, or lack of it, is inconsistent with Steven's past no- 
leak management style. I called Microsoft's PR agency for confirmation  
and got this statement in response: "It is part of our normal testing  
process for testers to receive regular builds; however, the Windows 7  
public beta is still expected in early 2009."

That statement could be construed as meaning the leak came from  
outside Microsoft. It's unusual for a Microsoft statement to make such  
a veiled accusation. But it makes sense as deflection from the real  
source, meaning Microsoft.

I'm not being critical here, as some Microsoft Watch commenters will  
surely claim. It's rather smart marketing. Microsoft fills a big news  
void with something bloggers and journalists will write about. The  
suspense of stealth downloads from torrents and races to post the best  
screenshots first make the Windows 7 leak buzz all the more exciting.  
For other people, there is delight in seeing Microsoft squirm because  
Seven leaked early. Not that I see much squirming going on.

If Microsoft didn't leak the build, forshame! If this is a real leak,  
how undeserving is Microsoft of the timing. Because the marketing  
benefits are immeasurable, given how much buzz there is out there.  
Google news search shows a couple hundred stories related to Windows 7  
Beta 1. If someone on Steven's team didn't leak this Seven build, they  
should have.

The leak lets Microsoft get in front of Apple. In a strange turnabout,  
Macworld comes before CES this year. Usually CES is earlier. Microsoft  
knows that Apple is prepping Snow Leopard—and quite possibly for early  
year release. The economy gives Apple good reason to formerly unveil  
Snow Leopard next week and set a release date by end of March.  
Software is a big-margin item in a slow-sales economy.

Scenario is set where next version of Mac OS X would grab big  
headlines and eclipse Windows 7, which I do expect Microsoft to  
present for public beta during CES. The leak puts Windows 7 news in  
front of and behind Snow Leopard. In military tactics, a flank  
maneuver gives an attacker superior position by surrounding an  
opponent on two or more sides. Marketers use flanking, too.

Looked at one way, Snow Leopard could steal all the buzz, because of  
timing and its presumed development status: Nearly done. By  
comparison, Windows 7 Build 7000 doesn't visually appear much  
different from the Pre-Beta software distributed during PDC. If the  
code is same as Beta 1, then the public testing software wouldn't be  
feature complete. So Microsoft conceptually would be stacking up its  
work-in-progress against Apple's masterpiece.

If Snow Leopard turns out to be a work incomplete, Apple is super hush- 
hush about software development. That's good for Microsoft, which  
could turn its work in progress into marketing gold. There's the leak  
for bloggers, journalists and enthusiasts writing on forums to chatter  
about now. Then comes the official public beta and the development  
process that follows. The leak is opportunity, whether by design or  
chance, for Microsoft to seize the marketing messaging and push it hard.

It has been a long time since Microsoft has had any positive buzz  
about a new Windows version. Seven made a solid debut at Microsoft's  
Professional Developer Conference in late October. But Apple and  
Microsoft are about to enter their fiercest mindshare competition  
since 2001, when Mac OS X 10.1 and Windows XP shipped in the same  
year. I expect Mac OS X 10.6 and Windows 7 to ship within a few months  
of another—at most.

The leaked build is for the "Ultimate" version, but 32-bit only; not  
64-bit. For Windows Vista betas, Microsoft also distributed the  
Ultimate version. The 64-bit support will be one area where Apple and  
Microsoft will compete to create perceptions their OS is better.

The leak also helps Microsoft set expectations about Beta 1. People  
writing about the leaked build are reporting some user interface  
niceties, modest performance improvements, but no shocking changes  
from Windows Vista. That said, the leaked software does pack some of  
the visual eye candy demonstrated at PDC, including new Mac OS X-like  
taskbar; "Aero Peek" for looking under Windows; and new themes chooser.

With New Years coming, enthusiasts will have more time to uncover  
features, and the slow news cycle will give bloggers and journalists  
more reason to follow-up early perceptions with more information about  
the software.

For Microsoft, it's all free marketing. Enthusiasts are the best  
marketers, and they're certainly babbling about Seven.