With exquisite timing a very naughty mole leaks us an email from top Microsoft spinmeister Mark Murray. Not any old email, either - it details events for the week leading up to Der Tag, today, the XP launch in NYC.
There"s lots of good stuff in the email, which seems to be Murray"s regular bulletin to get the spinmeisters und madels singing off the same liedersheet. Its basic role is: to drive home the various messages (not all of them concerning XP) Microsoft will be pushing this week; to keep everybody abreast of who"s where, pushing what; to provide a heads-up regarding events to be covered in the next few weeks, and to akeep them abreast of what"s going to be in tomorrow"s newspapers.
Least interesting from the tomorrow"s newspapers point of view is this: "This week, another in a series of Microsoft essays on technology and society will run in the New York Times, Washington Post, San Jose Mercury News, Seattle Times/PI and other major U.S. newspapers. Titled "Creating Tools for the Digital Decade," the essay focuses on the tremendous customer and partner effort behind Windows XP, with the overall theme that broad partnership and collaboration is how great software is made. The essay will be available at https://www.microsoft.com/issues/ starting Wednesday."
And there indeed it is. Dull, trite, vacuous are not the words. Also due on presspass on Wednesday is something weirdly called "Windows XP Partner Love." Surely not, but we haven"t checked... Apart from the paid-for advertorial stuff, the week"s expected non-XP coverage is as follows: