As Microsoft blogger Quentin Clark eloquently put it, "Wow."

At the recent TechEd conference in Boston, Microsoft previewed the Beta 2 release of the next-generation Windows file system (WinFS), which the company said would be available "later this year".  (Microsoft Watch pegged the Beta 2 release at mid-June.)

But on June 23rd, Clark, Director of Program Management for WinFS, posted an update to the WinFS Team Blog announcing "a change to our original delivery strategy". Clark said that Microsoft would not be pursuing a separate delivery of WinFS, including the planned Beta 2 release. Instead, aspects of WinFS would be delivered in the next release of Microsoft SQL Server. It sounded as if WinFS was, as they say in Canada*, kaput.

But what really jarred people was the tone of the blog post. I won't try to second-guess Clark's intentions when writing the post, but whatever he meant to say wound up coated with a delicious candy shell of marketing speak. There are "mature" "technical innovations" in WinFS that go "beyond just the WinFS vision but are part of a broader Data Platform Vision the company is pursuing." (Capital letters - always a bad sign.)  Readers should be "encouraged" that this "great technology" is being "productized" in this way. Clark wrapped up by saying, "We will continue working the innovations, and as things mature they will find their way into the right product experiences – Windows and otherwise."

And the crowd went wild! Or, um, not. From the comments:

"I'm normally a pretty strong supporter of MS, but I don't hesitate to lay into them when they deserves it.  This blog posting is pure spin.  WinFS is dead."

"It sounds so positive. But it's like giving a speech in front of the coffin. You just keep remembering the guy inside, and the more you do, the more you remember he's dead. "

"I strongly believe that having a blog and engaging in an honest conversation can only work if you then don't try to play the usual PR 'every decision is great' messages."

"'productized' LOL"

Well, you get the idea. And to his credit, so did Clark. On June 26th he followed up with a clarification that took a more straightforward approach to the topic. People still weren't turning cartwheels of joy over the announcement, but at least they felt that they were being treated with honesty and respect.

I'll admit that in my more cynical moments, I doubted the claims of blogging evangelists that the medium had set the bar higher for authenticity. I imagined that as companies jumped on the blogwagon, they would use blogs as just another way to deliver the same old, same old; and although some people might be put off, most folks would accept it because that's what they're accustomed to seeing from the marketing machine. I'm happy to discover that I was wrong.

So, kudos to the customers who demanded straight talk instead of spin, and kudos to Clark for rising to the occasion. Serving up news that you know people aren't going to like is never fun, but when you have to do it, it's best served without the candy shell.


*My knowledge of language and geography might be a little shaky.

Tags: Microsoft, WinFS