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."

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.

'Surprise'

[fridaynightsmoke]

Was the surprise the lack of surprises?

I would summarise that interview as "When builds leak they might be incomplete or old, and people may get a wrong impression of what the product will be like. This causes my phone to ring which is a pain in the ass"

No real surprises there.

Leak concern?

[cpattersonv1]

It's odd that they would be concerned with the perception of quality in leaked software... Microsoft customers have come to expect the final release to be buggy anyhow. The only people who are going to install the leaked software probably wouldn't buy the final build anyhow.

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.

Re:I always had the impression

[lukas84]

That's above your paygrade.

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 don't believe the article.

[Sir_Lewk]

I think that the misuse of "your" shows that this post was entirely made up. If this slashdotter is a real MSFT employee, then it doesn't sound like someone from client performance team of the core product group.

Sorry, I just fail to see how overuse of the phrase "you know" signifies much of anything. You know?

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.

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:You know

[sixteenbitsamurai]

Minnesotans will vehemently disagree and tell you Canadians speak like that, then Canadians will turn around and cuss you out in French. Really though, nobody talks like that except old folks of Scandinavian descent and no one else in Minnesota does unless you are an asshole tourist looking to get your ass kicked. As a matter of fact, the actual "accent" or "dialect" we possess, or rather the lack of an accent or dialect, is often emulated by television and movie actors because the quality of our spoken English is the most clear and easily understood in the United States.

If you really want to make fun of Minnesotan speech, try slurring like a drunk. The town I grew up in, population not exceeding 2,000, has about a dozen bars. The town I live in now has about twenty, with over a dozen of those on main street, as well as three liquor stores on main as well, with a population of about 8,500 people. Drinking and driving isn't an issue around here, it's a competitive sport. So basically if you talk like you've had about a case of beer in one sitting, you'll sound like a Minnesotan, or rather, an Iron Ranger. Beyond that, we really don't have any obvious speech deficiencies, permanent effects of prolonged alcohol abuse notwithstanding.

Either way, I'm not so much proud of where I live (I'm really not) as much as I can't stand the ridiculous idea that everyone in Minnesota "speak like dat stupid woman from dat Fargo movie, oh ya doncha know. Uff da!"

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.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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.

gcc 2.96 - Re:So what do we take away vis a vis...

[sowth]

Sometimes it is a problem for Open Source. gcc "2.96" [gnu.org] for example. A distro took an experimental version of gcc, called it "2.96" (the previous version was 2.95.x) and released it in their distribution. This version of gcc had a number of serious problems and incompatibilities with other versions of gcc.

This caused quite a few headaches. If you ever see a version of gcc marked 2.96, DO NOT use it. It is screwed up.

This is partly why I don't like to use distros who modify projects. Yeah, they may improve the crap script kiddie ones, or the ones written by universities where they are based on sound concepts, but were programmed by non-programmers--scientists and the like.

But, many of the very popular core projects are written by programming experts who are the best in their field. For example OpenSSL and Debian: did the maintainer really think he was more of a cryptography programming expert than the OpenBSD guys? No frakking way!

Re:I always had the impression

[Anonymous Coward]

That's actually pretty shallow and closed-minded. I used to be on the "other side" and always wondered what the big deal with powerpoint was.

It's like this - unlike COMPUTERS, people need to be engaged. When you're role in the business is to be face to face with people almost 110% of the time, you WILL be busy. It's not like say, creating an automated install with your company's logo that installs MS OFFICE off the SMB server afterwards giving you 20 minutes to fuck around with.

Sometimes you really only have 10 minutes to digest everything.

Other times though, your comment is completely warranted: 10 minute powerpoint and 50 minute social / cinnamon roll