14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft managed to get some videos highlighting details from leaked Windows 8 Builds removed from YouTube.
Early development milestones of Windows 8 feature a small request from the company: “Shhh… let’s not leak out hard work.”
And as long as the software giant kept Windows vNext confined to Redmond, all the hard work around Windows 7’s successor was also kept under a tight lid.
But by expanding the testing pool to include additional early adopters worldwide, Microsoft might as well have given green light to leaks itself.
In all fairness, the Redmond company did manage to contain Windows 8 leaks for quite some time, with the first actual bits, a Milestone 1 (M1) Build compiled in September 2010 making its way in the wild only in April 2011.
Windows 8 M1 Build 7850 was followed shortly by Windows 8 Milestone 2 (M2) or pre-M3 Build 6.2.7955.0, and the volume of leaks only increased.
Some users even started capturing videos of details in Windows 8 which they posted on YouTube and shared with the world.
A few of those videos have been removed at the request of the software giant as is the case with one depicting the new Metro UI of the Settings Menu in Windows 8. “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Microsoft Corporation,” is the message that welcomes users instead of the actual content.
As far as I’m concerned, I do understand Microsoft’s need to control the information of the next version of Windows that becomes available to the public. What I don’t understand is the company’s obsession with the level of control, and the insistence that no details are shared until “they’re ready.”
Fact is that the next version of Windows, which the software giant doesn’t even refer to as Windows 8 publicly, is far from being finalized, approximately half a year away from the Beta milestone, by the most optimistic estimates.
This means that everything about the next iteration of Windows can change, as there’s nothing set in stone yet.
Leaking information on new features, functionality and components sported by Windows 8 M1, M2 and M3 could turn up as being irrelevant, since they could be cut from the Beta version of the operating system entirely.
Since such a scenario could end up hurting Microsoft, the company’s need to fight leaks is understandable, and the lengths at which it’s ready to go are exemplified by the following message provided on Windows 8 wallpapers to testers:
“Unauthorized use or disclosure in any manner may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment (in the case of employees), termination of an assignment or contract (in the case of contingent staff), and potential civil and criminal liability.”