--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]

MICROSOFT employs PR agencies to distort the reality behind Vista 7. This process includes some of the least ethical tactics, which include monitoring of blogs and then unleashing semi-automated replies to counter opposition en masse. Microsoft is not alone when it comes to these tactics though. Our reader Ryan gets this done constantly to his blog, which Comcast is still monitoring with the help of SpyStroturf agency Radian6. He saw this before. With agencies like Visible Technologies, Microsoft is systematically silencing opposition and engages in "perception management" [1, 2].

“Both Vista and Vista 7 did not deliver the features which Microsoft promised that they would have.”This introduction hopefully puts in perspective the hype that surrounded Windows Vista back in 2006 and 2007. It is happening again ahead of the release of Vista 7, whose deficiencies are very many (here is a list of examples).

Microsoft is probably aware that backlash may come after Vista 7 is released and then tested by average households where the computers are not state-of-the-art, the software is mediocre and old, and users are mostly amateurs (not testers of release candidates, let alone MSDN subscribers). As we have shown before, Vista 8 is already on Microsoft's lips [1, 2], so when people express dissatisfaction with Vista 7 Microsoft will say that version 8 is out "real soon now" and it will deliver everything under the sun. Both Vista and Vista 7 did not deliver the features which Microsoft promised that they would have. It's a safe bet that Vista 8 will also make coffee and do somersaults.

Anyway, here is the very latest attempt to hype up Vista 8. It comes from Mary Jo Foley, who makes some money on the side from doing that type of promotion.

Anders Vindberg, a Microsoft Technical Fellow in Microsoft’s Management and Services division — a “Big Brains” interview with whom I’ll be posting soon — acknowledged that planning sessions were well underway for Windows 8. And of the 12 working groups created, “eight or nine revolve around management.”

[...]

Stephen Chapman, a tech enthusiast who runs the UX Evangelist site, has been beating the bushes for a few months now for Windows 8 information. He recently unearthed a number of job profiles of folks who have worked on and are working on various elements which may or may not make it into the final Windows 8 release.

--Tim Bray