Steven Sinofsky on Windows 7 disclosure principles: respect and responsibility

If you've wondered why not much has been officially said about Windows 7, a blog on CNet posted today where Steven Sinofsky discusses his principles of deliberate disclosure.

These two excerpts had the most resonance for me

Respect

I think that we're just focused--the No. 1 goal we're focused on is really the responsibility that we feel, and the respect that we have for all of our customers and partners, and making sure that what we share with them is really accurate and actionable, and that we are focused, like I keep saying, promise and deliver.

Responsibility 

The team feels this tremendous responsibility to working with IHVs and ISVs and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), because they're running businesses, they have their own business challenges, their own business goals, their own aspirations, and when we speak about what we might do, they will take it seriously. So, we appreciate that and we respect that, and it's a great benefit. But if we're not accurate or the information we provide causes them to do one thing, and then we change our mind, that doesn't bring the ecosystem forward. A big set of challenges that we learned...is making sure that the information we provide legitimately reflects the promises that we're making to ourselves and to the team as a product.

As a big fan of modern superhero movies, Sinofsky's comments evoked this memorable movie line "With great power comes great responsibility".