Summary: For purposes of publicity and hype Microsoft is up to the usual tricks, calling its own action a "leak" and pretending it was all just an accident

SO FAR this year we have given many examples of fake 'leaks' from Microsoft (Apple's fake hype and other fakes are a another related thing). Microsoft does not seem to mind when the 'leaks' are exposed as just Microsoft marketing stunts. To the Microsoft Pinocchio, lying is a lifestyle and bogus hype is means to an end.

Last week's news uttered something about a "Halo Reach" breach and leak [1, 2]. Poor Microsoft, eh? Well, not so fast! Microsoft is said to be enabling people to take it:

Who Leaked Halo: Reach Early? Microsoft Did

[...]

How did it happen? How does this sort of thing always happen. But in this case there's a twist: It seems the powers that be--not some felonious bottom-rung employee--placed it in lockdown on a public file server, then handed out keys.

[...]

Should GameTuts have been fiddling around (shamefully and illegally) in Microsoft's business? Of course not. But should Microsoft have made Halo: Reach--however bristling with security measures--available via what amounts to a public file server? Live and learn, and since keeping pirate copies off the market prior to launch day is considered commercially critical, I doubt we'll see Microsoft make this particular mistake ever again.

Microsoft keeps faking 'leaks' for the known allure of taboo or exclusivity. Microsoft is also doing this with Internet Explorer right now [1, 2]. The headlines say "Microsoft Russia leaks IE9 beta" and "Microsoft leaks Internet Explorer 9 screenshot" (implying that Microsoft itself is doing the 'leak', which means that it is not a leak at all). It is designed like marketing material, not an arbitrary 'leak'/screenshot and Mary Jo Microsoft is seeding it, along with other boosters of the monopoly. IDG's Microsoft boosters (like Robert Mullins) have used that as an excuse, trying to generate buzz like a marketing company and pretending this is "news", not Microsoft a "puff story". ⬆

"After sixteen months spent seeding the trade press, it was time to think of the end users. For this, Waggener Edstrom leaked exclusive Windows 95 puff stories to all of the important newspapers and publications. The PR firm fed the New York Times a story with a marketing twist, the Wall Street Journal received a more technical angle, and People magazine got an exclusive revealing that NBC's Friends sitcom stars Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry would be doing a twenty-five-minute video, educating people on the wonders of Windows 95."

--Barbarians Led by Bill Gates, a book composed
by the daughter of Microsoft's Pam Edstrom