Blacklisted by Microsoft!

I guess it was inevitable. After taking Microsoft to task for its many Vista foibles, and after very publicly excoriating the company over its mistreatment of enterprise desktop customers, the Redmond empire finally struck back.

Basically, they blacklisted me from certain super-secret (i.e. pre-conference, NDA, off-the books) sessions at their Professional Developer Conference (PDC) –- this after formally inviting me to attend those sessions as an “esteemed reviewer” representing InfoWorld. Here’s how the whole thing went down:

[ Keep up with all the developments at Microsoft’s 2008 Professional Developers Conference in InfoWorld’s special report. ]

Oct. 3, 2008 –- I receive an e-mail from Julie McCormick at Waggener Edstrom in which she extends a “special save-the-date” invitation to attend a “unique, invitation-only” event being hosted by the Windows Client team. She labels the subject matter as “confidential” and notes that attendees will be hosted at a special “socializing event” on Saturday night as compensation for flying in a day early.

Needless to say, I RSVP immediately. I also adjust my travel itinerary so that I will arrive on Saturday, the 25th -– a full day early -– and thus be available for the “socalizing event” and for the super-secret, invitation-only workshop the following day.

Oct. 8, 2008 –- I receive a mysterious “recall” notice in my Outlook Inbox from this same Julie McCormick. Apparently, she’s trying to “unsend” the aforementioned invitation e-mail. Fortunately, I don’t use Exchange Server (makes it harder for my sources to recant when they get cold feet), so this rather clumsy attempt at “evidence elimination” fails miserably. However, I’m concerned that such attempt was made in the first place. Why try to “undo” my invitation e-mail? Was I now being uninvited to the super-secret workshop?

Panicking, I quickly hit reply to inquire as to the status of my invitation. At this point I’m thinking it must be a mistake, but since I’ve already booked my plane ticket (and can’t change it without incurring all sorts of nasty penalties), I want to be sure. McCormick replies that she had “overstepped her boundaries” by inviting me and that the event in question was now at capacity. When I complain that I have already booked my airfare based on the original invitation, she again apologizes and even offers to compensate me for any change fees or additional costs I might incur as a result of her “error.”

Smelling a rat (the “recall” attempt now seems to show malice of intent), I forward the whole exchange to our Editor-in-Chief, Eric Knorr. I also start working my own network of insider contacts to try and figure out just what’s going on.

Oct. 9, 2008 — A short while later, I get my first hit. It seems that the whole mess started when the Windows Server team made the mistake of inviting yours truly to an event hosted by the Windows Client team. Apparently, the folks on the Server team were unaware of my decidedly negative views towards Vista, and when the Client folks found out they had invited Randall C. Kennedy -– a.k.a. Vista’s most vocal and effective critic -– to their special, “for fanbois only” (nice photos, Paul) shindig, they went ballistic.

With this new information in hand, I go back to Eric Knorr who proceeds to press Microsoft about the poorly handled invite/dis-invite/attempted-cover-up scenario. After some heated calls between InfoWorld, Waggener Edstrom, and their Microsoft masters, the truth finally begins to emerge.

First, it appears that someone high up on the Client Team (Steve?) really doesn’t like me. I mean, really, truly loathes me. And it’s not just your run-of-the-mill frustration with a journalist who picks on them. This thing is personal, and the executive in question is allowing his or her personal feelings to spill over into the company’s handling of formal press relations with InfoWorld.

But it doesn’t stop there. The “official” explanation for my blacklisting and subsequent “dis-invitation” is that I somehow “violated the non-disclosure agreement” for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta by publishing benchmark results before the update was released. Of course, this argument is entirely specious because a) I haven’t signed any NDA with Microsoft in the past decade and b) I’ve never published any benchmark results for Vista -– at least none that originated with me. Furthermore, if there really was some sort of NDA violation in play, it wouldn’t be Waggener-Edstrom relaying the message. It would be Microsoft Legal … in the form of a lawsuit.

Regardless, despite repeated pleadings from Eric Knorr on my behalf, Microsoft simply refuses to budge. It is now official company policy that Randall C. Kennedy is unwelcome at the super-secret workshop.

Note: I heard that they even considered banning me from PDC outright, so toxic is my presence. However, cooler heads eventually prevailed, and I’m now penning this from my hotel room just up the street from the L.A. Convention Center. I have my shiny red “Media” badge sitting next to me as I type, and I’m busily circling all of the sessions I hope to take in during the next four days (the Windows 7 tracks look particularly juicy).

Oh, and I’ll definitely be attending the not-so-secret, general media/analyst mixer on Monday night at The Standard hotel. That is, unless Microsoft reads this and decides to un-invite me again at the last minute. Thankfully, this particular entry won’t post until Tuesday, so … cheers! 🙂