No doubt many of you will have seen reports on the web this week that a pre-release build of Windows Home Server “Vail” has leaked. I’d like to thank everyone who emailed me this week with screenshots, links and other messages pointing out the news – certainly, the reports have generated a lot of discussion about Windows Home Server in a week otherwise dominated by the iPad. Certainly the buzz around WHS is still strong!
You’ll have also realised that WGS has not reported the leak – the screenshots, links and detailed information on the build you may find elsewhere can’t be found here on the site. You may be wondering why that is! Well, a few of us that write/moderate here at WGS are Windows Home Server MVPs, which means that Microsoft share information with us under a Non-Disclosure Agreement – a legal document we’ve signed that promises we won’t share information on unreleased products with the outside world.
The great thing about this kind of agreement is that we get to see some things a little ahead of time, which ensures we can cover them in depth and in good time when they’re finally announced. The downside, however, is that we’re unable to talk about what we know until it is actually announced and Vail is decidedly unannounced at this point.
The leak puts us in a slightly awkward position – there’s a lot of chatter around the web right now that we’d love to be a part of, but we’ve made some promises that we have to keep to. Part of that promise is that we won’t have any screenshots or links to leaked content on the site, so we’ve had to edit a couple of reader comments that have been posted over the past few days. Apologies to those guys.
Of course, whilst we’re under NDA, most of you I’m sure aren’t (!) so you’re welcome to discuss Windows Home Server “Vail” in our dedicated forum. You’re free to discuss what you’ve seen around the web, but we do ask that you refrain from posting build links and any screenshots – it’ll help us out!
I hope this explains why we’ve been a little quiet on the subject of Vail this week. You’ll see that others are in a similar situation. I’ve enjoyed reading all the buzz this week, and look forward to reading your thoughts and debate over in the forums. One final piece of general advice – remember, if you’re tempted to download any kind of alpha software, particularly from a torrent, remember that this kind of software is a. unfinished and b. liable to blow up at any time, so stay safe and don’t install it where it can do any damage!
More Info: WGS Forums
29. January 2010 at 11:59 pm
Nicely stated Terry and understand completely. Nice warning too about the possible problems related to torrent files. I played with it real quickly and it's cool looking but far from ready for prime time though. All in all though it's nice to know they are working on it.
fasthair
29. January 2010 at 11:59 pm
Any idea when it will be announced – or are you not allowed to say
30. January 2010 at 8:18 am
Actually, I really don't know, Al!
30. January 2010 at 1:36 am
i want Vail so much, these NDAs are so annoying hey.
29. January 2010 at 9:22 pm
Nice I was wondering about the little coverage. Thanks for clearing that up… runs to forums.
30. January 2010 at 5:08 am
I don't see how a NDA can stop someone from allowing comments, not their own, to be posted to their website. Lots of other notable websites do it all the time. Especially when the location of the information in question is on a Microsoft owned site.
I think that Terry should have added that, "In the interest of maintaining my good standing with Microsoft and access to early insider info, I have decided to censor certain information from my website."
1. February 2010 at 2:59 pm
It doesn't matter where the content is posted, NDA stands for Non-Disclosure Agreement. A few years back I got to see Vista long before it was ever made public and I read the NDA and it specifically states in there that you are not even allowed to acknowledge the existence of the product. I cannot say what the penalty for disclosing Vail would have been, but the NDA for the Vista event specifically stated that I could be banned from any future Microsoft events, betas, etc. and/or be sued for an to be determined amount.
These companies want to keep to their intellectual property secret until it is released for a reason and they will go to great lengths to keep it from getting out to the public. Look at how secret Apple is and how willing they are to sue people who not only leak the information, but the people who obtain the leaked information.
30. January 2010 at 11:16 am
It's not censorship – just the practicalities of working in the real world.
Also comments have not been dissallowed – only screenshots of the proprietarysoftware.
Keep up the good work Terrry
30. January 2010 at 1:21 pm
Wow, My opinion of your site just went down! Working in the software industry for years I understand NDA very well. It is handle by a "I am under NDA and unable to comment on that.
What I do not understand is agreeing to take down comments, user submitted screen shoots, links to other sites etc. You are not disclosing.
THAT IS JUST WRONG and if it that is not censorship then we all are reading from different dictionary's.
30. January 2010 at 1:34 pm
Sometimes, NDAs are written so broadly that one is afraid of even the appearance of transgressing. If you've worked in the industry for years, then you must know this to be the case.
Give the guy some slack for trying to uphold his end of the agreement, and interpreting it in the most conservative sense. Mary Jo Foley, Paul Thurrott and others have the links and screenshots.
30. January 2010 at 1:27 pm
@Chris – Yes comments on censor, go to the forum and Quotes from the moderators!!!
"All we ask is that you don't discuss it here (detailing any points about its operations, functions, etc.) as we are trying to afford some protection of our position and relationship with Microsoft. "
30. January 2010 at 2:32 pm
Good for Terry in upholding some sort of ethics.
30. January 2010 at 7:34 pm
For all the censorship repression dudes:
CTP4 is Alpha software to test functionality of certain features of a product. It is not in any way shape or form a piece of software that is ready for use by anyone in the general public. Period
*Someone* illegally distributed this unfinished product on the web. This has nothing to do with NDAs. The consumer has no “right” to this software. The consumer has no “right” to see what this software looks like.
The distribution of CTP4 is the distribution of proprietary information that could easily be considered corporate espionage. I am sure the person responsible must be quite proud of himself for doing what he did. He has only done the consumer a disservice. Why?
30. January 2010 at 7:35 pm
continued…
Do you think Microsoft (or any company) would be happy to see this happen? Do you think that this will speed up the development process? It may do quite the opposite, as there may be no more outside testing done until the person responsible is discovered.
In the end, this has nothing to with censorship. It has everything to do with theft of a company’s intellectual property. All WGS has done is remove links and pictures of this intellectual property. If you must see pixs, if you must d/l it, there are other ways to get there then thru WGS.
30. January 2010 at 9:47 pm
My biggest concern is if this leak is genuine, then there is a LONG way to go before they have a product…
31. January 2010 at 11:00 am
As Jim pointed out above:
CTP4 is Alpha software to test functionality of certain features of a product
The active phrase there is "certain features"
It is quite likely that there are lots of other "features" of Vail in the same stage of development, they just aren't bolted into a CTP release.
31. January 2010 at 9:49 pm
Well I'm not sure which 'features' they are testing, because there are precious few in here, apart from slightly better management of the home page – the functionality of which barely touches what Whiist already offers… I'm not sure libraries integration is going to sell Vail to the masses.
1. February 2010 at 7:53 am
You know, almost everyone in this industry has non disclosure agreements with Microsoft or other partners. So do I, and apparently so do you. However I have never seen anyone bragging about it with statements like "I know something you don't know" – and you do it frequently. It very annoying and tiresome.
If you cant tell anyone, please keep your mouth shut – if else we are we are happy to get a part of your knowledge.
2. February 2010 at 10:15 am
Very disappointed! I come here for all my WHS news… and now I find out you're not allowed to talk about it. Great! I'll have to go elsewhere!
4. February 2010 at 4:49 pm
Terry did a great job of describing why we are not seeing information about Vail on his site. He has signed a NDA in order to be a better serve you by having insight and access to MSFT folks. I find his comments to be balanced, smart and not self-serving. Those of you complaining just don't get it . Appreciat the position he is in and stop being cry babies! What a bunch of unappreciative whiners
20. February 2010 at 10:40 am
Do you think I should buy microsoft shares now, or is it too late?