Microsoft Employees Fired Over Windows 8 Leaks

Can't blame them...

Is the article picture supposed to be a leaked pic of Windows 8?

brb. Going to check the torrents.

Yeah, that is actually what one of the leaks looks like. It's quite similar to Windows 7 at the moment but a lot of the new features are popping up.

amen..

Wow, loosing job for a few meaningless images that don't look that much different from previous version of windows. Now only option those employees have is to become hackers and do some serious projects to make the world a better place.

At least they didn't get arrested....

valpanig, if you can't play by the rules and you get caught... you deserve to be fired.

It clearly says "windows 7" in the bottom right corner

Did you mean images like the article jpeg, or did you mean images like the bootable disk images?

I don't think Microsoft would take kindly to their employees putting current or past versions of Windows out there for download, either.

Doesn't even look very impressive...

How could they not leak it when the damn thing how such a desperate looking plea not to actually gives the impression of wanting to be leaked. It's like a giant big red button and a sign next to it saying "Do not press" I am almost willing to bet money that this actually is what started the temptation to do it in the first place. I'm not saying what they did was right but it was bound to happen.

It don't think there will be major cosmetic changes in Win 8. The setup in Windows 7 is simple and user friendly and sales have been great. What can be altered is the guts of the beast: NTFS needs an update. Certain kernel operations need to be modernized - an example is storage write throttling that occurs at the system level. Add some goodies like native blu-ray support for WMP and pdf support in the OS.

No sympathy for employees who knew they would be fired if they leaked the information.

If you read the article is says they were fired for leaking working copies of the OS. I'm sure they wouldn't get fired for leaking images of Win8 since they build on the Win7 UI. Win8 will look a lot like win7 until the final build rolls out.

Nonsense. Leaks make for a great advertisement. Although I can understand... popping up with a new OS with a screwed-up Mac-like GUI as a surprise would be twice as devastating.

If you do the "crime", be prepared to do the "time". These guys all sign non-disclosure statements and understand the repercussions should they violate the agreement. While I am not a MS fan, good for them for doing the right thing.

Build 7850.winmain_win8m1, that last part means Milestone 1 of Windows 8. It is just using the Windows 7 UI cause it's available and quick way to check to see if things are working, that will change nearing end though.

I can't ever figure out why people leak things like this - risk a decent job for what...

Sometimes I do wonder if things have been "leaked" for publicity too.

The irony is that the leaks seem to be drumming up interest for Windows 8, which I'm sure is what they assumed. They probably just expected a slap on the wrist because in the end they are basically giving MS free word of mouth advertising, which is always the most effective form of advertising.

I'm tempted to look for a torrent myself and try it out just for a short test drive, but personally I'd rather wait for a more finished leak....that is if there will be one. One can only hope!

If this news is true we can’t blame Microsoft for firing these employees, since this is an unethical behavior.

Crap! now it's gonna be harder to get these leaks

I'm sure you signed a contract with the devil before they let you work in hell. You're lucky the didn't take you to court over it. I'm no fan of MS (tho props on Win7 -no credit is exaggerated there), but that's the price you pay for those leaks we love to hear. Gotta think twice - it usually takes unethical action to feed the unethical side of people.

"brb. Going to check the torrents."


"amen"

The only thing more stupid than torrents are the people who brag about using them. Use the Net and direct download instead of eating up massive bandwidth.This is one of the reasons caps are being enforced.

OK, more specifically on my part is not the torrent (I have never used one).
I'm commenting on the 'free software' issue.
Are WE clear now.?

so rapidshare, filestube and etc. are all cool with me..

If they can't be trusted to keep something "meaningless" a secret, how can they be trusted to keep a big one that might be worth a lot of money? The idea isn't just to punish people for directly violating their terms of employment, but to actually try to weed out those people who might cause problems in the future, and potentially save the company a lot of time and money.

MS probably fired the employees for publicity too. Can't imagine how it's like working for MS.

Sounds fair. My company would do the same.

Are you actually for real with your comment? Are you familiar with the quantitative worth of intellectual property? Are you also aware that a leaked image today will mean a leaked source code tomorrow - or a leaked final product the day after that? I wonder how you would treat an employee that you cannot trust... These 2 employees are very lucky, if all they got were terminations.

^+1 The NDA these employees signed must have specifically stated the repercussions of this action. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that MS sues these two employees later, should their leaks cause damages.

Are you serious? That's BS... equivalent to saying that a sharp remark towards a co-worker today will be followed by a massacre tomorrow. Too far-fetched. Leaking an image doesn't necessarily entitle you to leak a source code.

And, again, I doubt it's even real. Most likely, it's just an advertising trick - same thing with Foxconn employees sued over leaking iPhone... nothing advertises better than a quality "leak".