The Best-Kept Secret over at Microsoft... Vista SP1? Windows Seven?

There is little argument to contradict the fact that the first Service Packs for Windows Vista and Windows Seven are some of the best kept secrets over at Redmond. Well, Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group runs a tight shift... and the Omerta he imposed for all things related to the Windows platform works with clockwork perfection muting all details associated with the 2007 incarnation of Vista SP1 or Windows Seven (coming in 2010). Still, if Sinofsky is aiming to create a kind of Apple mythical atmosphere around Windows Seven and Vista SP1, he's failing miserably... But on the other hand, if he is trying to underpromise and overachieve...

However, Todd Headrick, the product planner for the Microsoft Windows Home Server thinks that the best-kept secret for Microsoft has been Windows Home Server. "Windows Home Server was a secret for a long time. We had over 1,000 internal testers at Microsoft prior to announcing the product at CES 2007, some of these people used the product for over a year without leaking anything about it. I remember the early days when employees asked us - "What do I tell my family? How do I explain this to them without divulging Microsoft confidential information?" It is amazing how many people within Microsoft know so little about Windows Home Server. Yet, once they understand the product, its value, and see a demo, they are sold with the obvious next set of questions .... how much will it cost and when is it available?" Headrick revealed.

Windows Home Server was indeed one of the best-kept secrets at Microsoft, but the team building Quattro or Q � as it was know internally � did an exemplary PR work after Chairman Bill Gates unveiled the product in early January 2007. The Windows Home Server team kept provided luxuriant information related to the product, and Sinofsky should really look to how they handled media and user relationship and learn from them. Alternatively, he can continue on the same path on the brink of paranoia, or schizophrenia, have your pick...

"The product is winding its way through the manufacturing process and will soon hit the store shelves. It is a better product due to the 1,000 Microsoft employees that gave us feedback for over a year prior to our public unveiling. And it is even better due to the feedback from the 100,000+ beta testers," Headrick added about Windows Home Server.