A couple of weeks has gone by since Microsoft unveiled Windows 8 at the BUILD conference in Anaheim, and things are kind of back to normal. Except for the fact that Microsoft has gagged all of their normal information channels.
Apparently, Microsoft representatives are not allowed to talk about Windows 8 at all. And speakers at some conferences have been informed that they are not to talk about Windows 8 on stage. At least not their personal opinions. I assume that they are allowed to talk about the facts that were unveiled in Anaheim…
This is very far from how Microsoft normally handles their communication. Normally they will let everyone talk about their products WAY before release. They generally also make new software available internally at Microsoft, giving evangelists and technically interested people at the company a chance to try it out and get comfortable with it before release. Something that seems to be completely missing from Windows 8.
Microsoft reps at BUILD were quite open about the fact that they had no information at all, and that they were just as excited to see what was going to be unveiled at the conference.
This is a very new take on information flow at Microsoft. A VERY different flow… Whether or not this is good is left to be seen, but it is causing some major friction. Especially in the developer ranks where a lot of .NET developers are asking valid questions and getting no responses from Microsoft at all. And I am not only talking about Silverlight devs, I am talking about .NET devs in general.
As a response to this silence, me and my friend and colleague Robert Folkesson (currently working on setting up a new blog after leaving Microsoft) here at Active Solution, have decided to do a seminar about Windows 8 and our view of the future. So if you are in Sweden/Stockholm, I would recommend joining us for an evening full of technology, as well as speculation about the future. More information can be found here: http://activesolution.se/Seminarier/De-viktigaste-nyheterna-i-Windows-8/
For the rest of you who are (un)lucky enough to not live in the cold north, I will try to keep this channel open with thoughts and information…