Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[JorgeA]

Redmond is one huge torture chamber or something:

http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-most-universally-hated-exec-at-microsoft-lisa-brummel-2012-7

Although Steve Ballmer is credited as the architect of the review process, when top HR manager, Lisa Brummel, took over in 2005, she promised to fix it. Instead she's instituted a series of tweaks that sometimes made it worse. This made Brummel "perhaps the most universally hated exec in the place," the employee said.

I'm not sure that "credited" is the right verb to use in combination with the MSFT employee review process.

What an insane system. You could have a whole lineup of Hall of Fame players, but some of them necessarily get tagged as journeymen. Or you could have an entire team of mediocrities, and still at least one of them will be rated stellarly.

@Charlotte -- you can add this to the list of Ballmer's "achievements" during his tenure.

--JorgeA

[Formfiller]

Ballmer Departure From Microsoft Was More Sudden Than Portrayed by the Company

According to sources close to the situation, the departure of CEO Steve Ballmer from Microsoft last week was more sudden than was depicted by the company in its announcement that he would be retiring within the next year in a planned smooth transition.

It was neither planned nor as smooth as portrayed.

While the decision to go seems to have technically been Ballmer’s, interviews with dozens of people inside and outside the company, including many close to the situation, indicate that he had not aimed to leave this soon and especially after the recent restructuring of the company that he had intensely planned.

Instead, sources said Ballmer’s timeline had been moved up drastically — first by him and then the nine-member board, including his longtime partner and Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates — after all agreed that it was best if he left sooner than later.

More good reading at the link above!

--JorgeA

Interesting. Apparently ValueAct played some role.

If you remember, they aren't fond of the NuMicrosoft antics at all.

[Formfiller]

Who needs this:

When you have this!:

http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-is-filled-with-abusive-managers-and-overworked-employees-says-tell-all-book-2012-5#microsoft-managers-find-ways-to-label-employees-3

Microsoft managers find ways to label employees

"My whole department was sent to a mandatory training where we were assigned different colors based on the results of a personality quiz," the author named Jason writes.

The manager then drew up a poster with employee names and colors and posted it in the hallway. The manager used the unscientific personality test to create teams and assign roles and project leaders.

Lesson: How would you like your work to be based on a personality test instead of your accomplishments?

--

Managers pick scapegoats and treat those employees abusively

Bosses at Microsoft thought nothing of screaming at employees and blaming them for everything, whether it was their fault or not, the authors contend.

This seems to be in Microsoft's DNA. Bill Gates yelling at employees was the stuff of legend at Microsoft.

CEO heir apparent Steven Sinofsky, president of the all-important Windows division, has been described as stubborn, secretive, dictatorial. People we spoke to for an article on him "claim Sinofsky’s influence and personality drove them out of the company. Another former employee called him a 'cancer.' Others used much ruder words than that."

--

Living in The Bubble

The Microsoft Redmond Campus is like its own little city with every convenience right there. "Whether intentional or not, the conveniences led to a culture or mindset where you were basically at work 24/7," the authors say.

This leads to "The Bubble" which is when Microsoft employees only associate with other Microsoft employees. "If you're in The Bubble it just becomes easier, more convenient, to be around others in The Bubble."

Everyone works crazy hours and has managers that yell at them and thinks that's normal, they write.

Lesson: The Bubble prevents people from being in touch with the bigger world.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Formfiller

[Formfiller]

More madness:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/microsoft-employee-stack-ranking-and-its-most-universally-hated-exec?source=nww_rss

Productivity at Microsoft has skidded to a brief halt thanks to the Vanity Fair article, which employees are reading on tablets and Nooks and Kindles because no one dares bring in the actual magazine.

According to the Microsoft employee I spoke to, the "stack ranking" method of employee measurement is even worse than VF made it out to be. The stack ranking employee review system says 20 percent of the staff on any given team are stars, 70 percent are merely adequate and 10 percent are worthless, and it sets out to fit people into one of those three molds, to the point of being a self-fulfilling prophecy. People ranked in the 10 percent often end up there for being lousy at office politics, not their job.

"We have been in peer-evaluation and self-evaluation and managerial evaluation since late May, with two months to go before FY13 commitments are codified and the mid-September bonus season makes it rain, and the ******* midyear evaluations start three months later," said my source.

What's worse, people with a 3, 4, or 5 ranking can't transfer within the company, and that impacts about two-thirds of the workforce. It doesn't matter if it's a person whose skills could be better used elsewhere, someone who just needs a change of scenery to revitalize their work, or an employee who just needs to get away from an awful boss. Managers won't touch anyone who has a 3 or 4 or 5 ranking. So their work continues to suffer and they can't move out of a bad situation.

And here's the real kicker: not only are individuals ranked, so are groups, and it's up to their manager to fight for them. Sometimes whole groups are tagged with a 5 simply because their manager wasn't strong enough to stand up for them when management was looking to fulfill its 10 percent prophecy.

Scott Barnes (he was a bigwig behind Silverlight) comments on the article:

Screw being anonymous, I was a Product Manager on Silverlight and It was one of the most successful products in Microsoft.. my time there was basically like watching sharks feed on a carcass... when Silverlight was new everyone pretty much laughed at it and ignored it as being a science project.. then we got momentum and success, pretty soon it created a lot of political fights...

I even figured out how to game the system. You don't hit your commitments until the last 6 months as your manager won't remember what you did in the first half of the year, trick was to hit the after burners at the last half (assuming you can survive 3-4 re-orgs in the process - which may I ad resets our commitments). I also found that if you send out lot of Victory Emails (Look at me, I'm so great) you also get a Microsoft Gold Star (Bonus).

I also saw a lot of really talented but introverted people get stomped on by air heads who looked busy but spent most of their time doing basically nothing (to the point where we used to track their movements and laugh about how little value they actually provided).

I know a few people still there that also aren't US citizens but can't afford to move home due to the GFC + House sale prices..so not only do they want to quit but the actually can't due to their visa's .. so they are essentially stuck in MSFT purgatory ... I left and it cost me around $30k AUD to leave all said and done.

Another former employee comments:

It's much worse than anyone has discussed. As we know, 1 is a high achiever and 5 is the lowest achiever. Now, the rule of thumb is that if someone gets a 5 the manager gives that person a warning that their job is on the line, and begins a case to get that person fired. But, the manager shouldn't fire a person with only one official (HR sanctioned) warning. Anyone who is fired for performance reasons should be allowed at least two incidents. In theory, this is to allow someone to turn around their performance, who simply had a bad few months.

So, the next review period comes around, and the person who got the 5 seriously kicked a**. All his commitments were met. All the dates met. In fact, he/she went beyond the call of duty and did better than anyone on the team. There is no reason for this person to get fired.

You'd think that this person survived being cut... but, no. The manager (by HR decree) must fire someone (known as "good attrition"). Yes, there's another person on the team who didn't do very well, but this would be their first warning. The manager must fire someone. Does the manager fire the person currently doing poorly, or does the manager ignore the good performance of the employee who turned it around, and fire the first person? If the manager doesn't fire someone, the managers own performance raking will go down.

Normally the manager fires the first person. The employee already got a warning. The case has already been made. Tag! Unless someone on your team severely screws up if you got a 5 - you're doomed. What NEVER happens is that the person who kicked a** gets a 1. Never happen. As a manager you simply cannot make that case to the other managers. Nobody, but nobody will believe you.

Not enough bad news about Microsoft stack ranking? Here's this:

Let's say you never got a bad score, and this review period you kicked a** so much so that your manager submitted you as a potential 1 (top performer). Of course the discussion with all the managers in the stack ranking meetings starts off with who deserves the 1's the most. There's no discussion about missed deadlines, or personality conflicts. The discussion of the potential 1's is just about accomplishments.

But, not everyone can be a 1. So, you drop down to a 2. There were a few people in the larger group who simply shined more than you, or maybe your team's accomplishments don't impress the higher-ups as much as some other team. Anyway, you're now a 2.

Now, there's a discussion of the 2's, and your performance is a part of the mix. But, now they are trying to distinguish between 2's a 3's. So, questions are asked, "who missed deadlines?" As it turns out, you missed a deadline by a few days. Just one... but, it's enough to drop you down to a 3.

So, now your accomplishments are being discussed in the group of 3's, and one of the managers remembers you having a heated argument in the hallway with someone a couple weeks ago.

Bam! You're a 4.

Now, before you can say it doesn't happen... I know for a fact that this exact scenario has happened, and therein lies the nature of the problem with this whole thing: Even managers have no control over the system. It's a total and utter crap shoot. Nobody knows what's going to happen every time they walk into the stack ranking meetings.

Another softie, complaining about Lisa Brummel: (she is often mentioned on MiniMSFT)

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/microsoft-employee-stack-ranking-and-its-most-universally-hated-exec?source=nww_rss#comment-585830586

FACT: SteveB listens to its engineers and gets back to them within 24 hours.

Lisa B needs to leave as the real problem from within. She has created an atmosphere of hatred and backstabbing between co workers. Where managers cover their tracks and takes credit for engineers work while demoting them. She has created a workplace where the average engineer has THREE different managers! When times got worse, managers fired all the engineers and left in place automation to run the show. Now all you have are loads of managers with nothing to do but have meetings all day everyday about the meeting the day before. As a result she even implemented and developed an application called TFS (commonly referred as TPS from the movie office space from employees) that managers can delegate tasks, so now managers can report on the results of workers and drive them to work harder while managers gain all the credit. Managers drive higher productivity in this new 21st century slave labor atmosphere. It represents the worst of companies that have been getting worse over time and trying harder to reduce costs and drive more productivity. Lisa B will be remembered as the innovator of "Microsoftism", the drive of streamlining MASS production in a post-fordism society. She deserves more the expulsion but entire blame of hurting the internal standard of software humanity. After the many years of engineer layoffs, all you have is a group of managers and executives with no knowledge of software and internet development. An entire company full of marketing, advertising, executives, and managers with nothing to do except have meetings everyday. Meetings about nothing at all important except the meeting that happened the day before. Why, cause it looks great in their TPS reports as something accomplished in that days tasks that were handled ontime.

Engineers made Microsoft and was NEVER given proper CREDIT for their work. Who are the developers anyway? When you watch the credit from movies, you see the names of the people who worked on the films, WHERE are the credits for engineers? They deserve them and they deserve proper compensation from past work completed! NOW!

Edited August 27, 2013 by Formfiller

[FiveAcres]

More grist for my "Microsoft is in more trouble than they are letting on" tinfoil hat theory:

Microsoft Bars Reporters from September 19 Financial Analysts Meeting

I agree with this guy: The Anatomy of an Iconic CEO Firing "After personally watching many CEOs come and go, I thought it would be valuable to share some insights from my nearly 25 years of Fortune 500 company experience so you can arrive at your own conclusion." I can still remember the nervous laughs while listening to my director explain to her group that so-and-so MCI executive was "leaving to pursue other opportunities" or "spend more time with his family."

[JorgeA]

Interesting speculation:

Alleged Windows 9, Windows 10, Windows RT and Windows Phone details emerge (rumor)

The information comes from a source called WZOR, who has been behind countless Microsoft information leaks in the past. He claims that Windows 9 will be similar to what we have currently, while Windows 10 will be something new. More so, he claims that Microsoft is planning to join both Windows RT and Windows Phone together.

First, the good "news" (if that's what it is):

According to WZOR, Windows 9 will be similar to the desktop OS we know today. He claims that Microsoft is planning to bring the old Aero interface back, but not as we all know it. That's all he teases regarding the Aero interface, but he also claims that Windows 9 will make an appearance in a years time, Much sooner than expected.

And now for the bad news (if that's what it is):

Regarding Windows 10, it appears the operating system will be something rather different. WZOR claims that Windows 10 will be a full 'cloud OS'...

Stay tuned:

WZOR also claims that more details regarding everything you've read here will be available in September.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

More grist for my "Microsoft is in more trouble than they are letting on" tinfoil hat theory:

Microsoft Bars Reporters from September 19 Financial Analysts Meeting

Yeah, I'm curious to see what comes out of that meeting. You just know somebody will spill the beans!

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

In ACLU lawsuit, scientist demolishes NSA’s “It’s just metadata” excuse

Storage and data-mining have come a long way in the past 35 years, Felten notes, and metadata is uniquely easy to analyze—unlike the complicated data of a call itself, with variations in language, voice, and conversation style. "This newfound data storage capacity has led to new ways of exploiting the digital record," writes Felten. "Sophisticated computing tools permit the analysis of large datasets to identify embedded patterns and relationships, including personal details, habits, and behaviors."

There are already programs that make it easy for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to analyze such data, like IBM's Analyst's Notebook. IBM offers courses on how to use Analyst's Notebook to understand call data better.

Bet the Stasi would have loved to have this kind of technology in 1989, or the British monarch in 1774.

What was that Lenin said about capitalists selling the rope they were to be hanged with?

Oh, and for those who haven't done this already, it's time to create longer and even more complex passwords:

“thereisnofatebutwhat­wemake”—Turbo-charged cracking comes to long passwords

For the first time, the freely available password cracker ocl-Hashcat-plus is able to tackle passcodes with as many as 55 characters. It's an improvement that comes as more and more people are relying on long passcodes and phrases to protect their website accounts and other online assets.

[...]

As leaked lists of real-world passwords proliferate, many people have turned to passwords and passphrases dozens of characters long in hopes of staying ahead of the latest cracking techniques. Crackers have responded by expanding the dictionaries they maintain to include phrases and word combinations found in the Bible, common literature, and in online discussions. For instance, independent password researcher Kevin Young recently decoded one particularly stubborn hash as the cryptographic representation of "thereisnofatebutwhatwemake."

--JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Interesting speculation:

Alleged Windows 9, Windows 10, Windows RT and Windows Phone details emerge (rumor)

The information comes from a source called WZOR, who has been behind countless Microsoft information leaks in the past. He claims that Windows 9 will be similar to what we have currently, while Windows 10 will be something new. More so, he claims that Microsoft is planning to join both Windows RT and Windows Phone together.

First, the good "news" (if that's what it is):

According to WZOR, Windows 9 will be similar to the desktop OS we know today. He claims that Microsoft is planning to bring the old Aero interface back, but not as we all know it. That's all he teases regarding the Aero interface, but he also claims that Windows 9 will make an appearance in a years time, Much sooner than expected.

And now for the bad news (if that's what it is):

Regarding Windows 10, it appears the operating system will be something rather different. WZOR claims that Windows 10 will be a full 'cloud OS'...

Stay tuned:

WZOR also claims that more details regarding everything you've read here will be available in September.

I do believe that source if he is talking about a best case scenario roadmap. However, there is equal chance that such plans will be discarded completely. If an outside team enters Redmond, an external CEO with non-sycophantic staff then almost anything can happen.

Just imagine if WP after two or three more quarters is at 3% or less. That will be a huge red mark just crying out for action, and anything might happen including selling it off to Nokia just as an example. Xbox red ink? Kiss it goodbye especially if they look back at its books for the last 10 or 12 years. Even consumer Windows itself might find itself on the auction block.

The whole cloud thing really is murky. Any number of future events could tarnish it beyond repair. For all we know it may already be unraveling considering the current spy scandals not to mention the next round of leaks. Besides, pure cloud Windows is an impossibility really. Computers from a retailer shipped to a customer need to work out of the box. The logistics of a cloud-based retail desktop is ridiculous. The only workable solution is a firmware based version of core Windows embedded, that boots okay but connects online incessantly to do anything useful. This is the ultimate shoehorning of a tablet into a workstation and really means the end of x86. I just can't see Intel and AMD going along for the ride. If they are invited to Microsoft's party, rather than ARM ( on the desktop ) then there is local storage and local x86 applications and it is not really cloud-based anyway. If they are not invited then Windows will die as Intel and AMD move to Linux or release their own operating systems.

Like i said, that source is citing some optimistic fantasy roadmap hatched in the Redmond Ivory Towers probably while Ballmer and Sinofsky were drinking Cognac. They still believed they ruled the world even as that world was closing in on them. Microsoft simply has no more weight to throw around. Any strong-arm threats they make will be met by resistance from OEMs now, not to mention governments eager to knock them down a few more pegs. If Dell, HP and Lenovo go down, others will take their place and build computers. I think everyone will see these Microsoft plans as a self-serving plot only to pad their own wallets some more.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

What an insane system. You could have a whole lineup of Hall of Fame players, but some of them necessarily get tagged as journeymen. Or you could have an entire team of mediocrities, and still at least one of them will be rated stellarly.

@Charlotte -- you can add this to the list of Ballmer's "achievements" during his tenure.

Yep. I mentioned a few posts back that this 1-5 system, the so-called "stack ranking" has been around. It actually came from GE and Jack Welch IIRC. I saw it inside IBM in the 1980's and 1990's back when there were all these copycat methodologies making the rounds in Fortune 500 companies. Stuff from Deming, Six Sigma, and JIT ( Just In Time ) manufacturing. They always pop up during recessions and are only designed to make the company look good to Wall Street so the stock market gamblers can run up the stock price enabling the lucky few to jump out of the plane with a golden parachute and a soft landing. What these chic tactics do to the actual employees is an entirely different matter however. It is poison.

Microsoft's implementation of stock ranking looks exactly like one would expect from a bureaucratic monstrosity, an absurd system with even less merit than the others. In fact, "merit" seems to be completely lacking. If there are actual quotas, and all these reports describe exactly that, then "merit" does not even exist. Nothing could possibly be worse than quotas, i.e., a set number of 1's, 2's ... 5's.

I worked alongside department managers and employees that were actual well-earned 1's and 2's ( and naturally there were some "loads" also, definite 5's ). Here's what is strange about quotas and what it will destroy - If I were a manager, I would want my department of say 20 people to all be 1's. I would sit them down and tell them that is what I want and let them know what they need to do to accomplish exactly that. If a few were sick a lot, or tardy, or whatever then that's the way the ball bounces, but I would still try to achieve it. It would be good for the company and good for the employees and I would get to tell my next level manager that I got my department to all 1's so it would be good for me. Microsoft's insane system nips this possibility in the bud. I could never imagine anything so thoroughly counter-productive! Trying to get my department to all 1's does NOT cause competition or infighting or backstabbing between the department employees, in fact it does the opposite fostering cooperation. Microsoft's ridiculous quotas means you have to backstab and step over the others. It is patently absurd!

These stories, especially the ones mentioned by Formfiller and over at TechBroil ...

Microsoft has become everything it 'despised,' insiders tell Vanity Fair ( NetworkWorld 2012-07-06 )

Microsoft employee on stack ranking and its 'most universally hated exec' ( NetworkWorld 2012-07-12 )

Meet 'The Most Universally Hated Exec' At Microsoft: Lisa Brummel ( BusinessInsider 2012-07-12 )

Microsoft Is Filled With Abusive Managers And Overworked Employees, Says Tell-All Book ( BusinessInsider 2012-05-23 )

... also point out another amazing situation. Apparently these ongoing review periods last about 3 months, twice a year. Simple math means that employees are free to do their jobs one half the time! 6 months of every year is all they have without this office Realpolitik influencing their every move. This is corporate suicide plain and simple. It's no wonder the place is a mess.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

NYT, Twitter and HuffPo Attacked by Syrian Electronic Army ( Wall Street Journal 2013-08-27 )

New York Times website likely taken down by malicious attack ( CNBC 2013-08-27 )

Oh great. How much you wanna bet that this will result in more calls for enhanced security leading to even more reduced privacy!


Microsoft to hold financial analyst meeting Sept. 17; press "are not invited" ( NeoWin 2013-08-27 )

( mentioned by FiveAcres ) You think the fanboys are starting to worry yet? They should be. They got some rough months ahead, each day waking up and looking at NeoWin articles just waiting for the bad news of which of their pet programs is terminated with extreme prejudice.


Microsoft: Windows 8.1 has hit RTM; no early access for MSDN or TechNet ( NeoWin 2013-08-27 )

And the hit parade continues! Developers Developers Developers indeed!


"Save TechNet" petition reaches 10,000 signatures as August 31st deadline looms ( NeoWin 2013-08-27 )

Ain't gonna help. Haven't you heard ...

In its original announcement in July, Microsoft said that it has seen "a usage shift from paid to free evaluation experiences and resources" and that was a factor in retiring TechNet.

There's that telemetry again! A "usage shift" my butt. We have an exact repeat of the Start Menu fiasco. I mean, does that quoted logic even make sense? So some people use free evaluation ( but not all obviously ) so they kill TechNet. Using that logic, if people buy lots more iPads than Surfaces ( 14 million vs 300K last quarter ) then they clearly should cancel them too! Using that logic, if most Windows 8 users bypass Metro and use the desktop ( and they do ) they should kill Metro

This usage of telemetry is really just confirmation bias. They have it in their minds and in their plans to do away with TechNet. Then they see some people using "free evaluation" releases and their bias and hopes are confirmed, thus they can kill it with comfortable self-assurance.


Microsoft's VP of communications says media coverage has been too harsh lately ( NeoWin 2013-08-28 )

Oh boo hoo. They're picking on us. There's that famous siege mentality again. Their bubble logic from living in a bubble. It is clear that they are never gonna heal themselves from within, they are way too insulated and self-enabling. Their only hope is a team of outsiders coming in and bulldozing out this toxic atmosphere.

[jaclaz]

Like i said, that source is citing some optimistic fantasy roadmap hatched in the Redmond Ivory Towers probably while Ballmer and Sinofsky were drinking Cognac.

If I may, that effect is more often provoked by cheap booze, not cognac.

They were most probably high on moonshine .

From http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2013/08/27/on-dickens-rashomon-and-twitter.aspx

So in the spirit of open and respectful dialogue,

When you believe these things, as we do, you don’t choose OR. You choose AND.

So when people see the “worst of times” while we see the best still ahead of us, we know it’s simply because we’re not looking through the same frame or the same time horizon.

The blog post seems to me like a very polite way to say:

1. we know better than you do
2. you are - by definition - demented or at least narrow minded/incapable of analyzing the specific situation (or actually *any* situation)
3. all genius and intelligence, and creativity and knowledge ARE BELONG TO US!

Hey, Mr.Shaw, noone asked to have N.C.I. OR a good non-touch interface, everyone is asking to have ALSO (AND or additionally) the possibility to choose the whatever he/she likes better.

jaclaz

Edited August 28, 2013 by jaclaz

[FiveAcres]

Microsoft: Windows 8.1 has hit RTM; no early access for MSDN or TechNet ( NeoWin 2013-08-27 )

And the hit parade continues! Developers Developers Developers indeed!

Well it looks like Windows 8.1 isn't really ready for RTM, since they are still busy debugging it, so this will give them a chance to meet their October deadline. As a former developer, who had to try to work within the arbitrary deadlines imposed from on high, I feel really sorry for the W8.1 developers. I also feel very sorry for the three W8.1 app developers and see no reason why anyone would want to join them.

[jaclaz]

....I feel really sorry for the W8.1 developers. I also feel very sorry for the three W8.1 app developers and see no reason why anyone would want to join them.

I also feel very sorry for the actual users .

Seriously, now:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/opinion/krugman-the-decline-of-e-empires.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

How could Microsoft have been so blind? Here’s where Ibn Khaldun comes in.

Is there a policy moral here? Let me make at least a negative case: Even though Microsoft did not, in fact, end up taking over the world, those antitrust concerns weren’t misplaced. Microsoft was a monopolist, it did extract a lot of monopoly rents, and it did inhibit innovation. Creative destruction means that monopolies aren’t forever, but it doesn’t mean that they’re harmless while they last. This was true for Microsoft yesterday; it may be true for Apple, or Google, or someone not yet on our radar, tomorrow.

jaclaz

Edited August 28, 2013 by jaclaz

[Tripredacus]

Microsoft: Windows 8.1 has hit RTM; no early access for MSDN or TechNet ( NeoWin 2013-08-27 )

And the hit parade continues! Developers Developers Developers indeed!

Well it looks like Windows 8.1 isn't really ready for RTM, since they are still busy debugging it, so this will give them a chance to meet their October deadline. As a former developer, who had to try to work within the arbitrary deadlines imposed from on high, I feel really sorry for the W8.1 developers. I also feel very sorry for the three W8.1 app developers and see no reason why anyone would want to join them.

No it is the standard procedure MS uses for RTM an operating system. Basically MS makes the annoucement that a product is RTM but it takes 2-3 days before anyone can actually download it. I don't know why MS just waits until it is available for download before telling the world that it is out.