Pre-Announceitis

I get an email newsletter called the Redmond Report every so often, and I like it because it keeps me abreast of what’s going on at Microsoft, and it’s not afraid to give MS some lumps if it feels the company deserves them. Today’s was classic though. Doug Barney, Editor in Chief of Redmond Magazine had the following to say:

WE’RE ANNOUNCING THAT WE ARE GOING TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE ARE GOING TO LAUNCH AND THEN SHIP — EVENTUALLY

Microsoft this week told the world that later this week it will announce that in November it will launch new products that will probably ship sometimes afterward on dates that have yet to be announced but will be announced once they ship after the launch. This is the new way to launch products: Announce every detail so by the time a product actually ships there’ve been umpteen celebrations. Heck, it worked for Windows 3.0, 95 and every version since!

Now Microsoft has announced that it’s leaking more details about Yukon, soon to be SQL Server 2005, and Whidbey, soon to be Visual Studio 2005, and BizTalk Server 2006, apparently not worthy of a cool code name, saying that they’ll be launched Nov. 7 of this year. On tap are some 90 separate launch events.

Too damn funny. When MS’s own IT community thinks this way too, it makes me feel a little better…