This is an unfortunate situation. The InfoWeek article covers it fairly evenly – on the one hand we could have handled this a bit better, but on the other credit is due for the company (IMO) taking this audience so seriously and trying to reach out to the blogger community. Yes, it could definitely have been handled better, but at least there is a conversation going on about how to make it right going forward.

One thing to be learned from this bruhaha: Microsoft needs to be crystal clear about its rules of engagement as the company finds itself dealing with a harder-to-define group of observers (to call them all “bloggers” is an oversimplification) who are capable of instant online publishing.

This is true for everyone now, not just Microsoft. There is no lag time from disclosure to publication, and precious few viable ways left to be selective in who gets info and what they do with it.