[null and void]

you're even arguing against a product which hasn't even been touched by you or anyone else outside of Microsoft's engineers.

Precisely.

A product announcement with no actual product.

I've done that working for start-ups.

Show me the hardware, we're full up on hype.

[adorno]

A product announcement with no actual product.

In real life, meaning, not in your world of fantasy, products and projects, are often announced before they are released for use or purchase. In fact, in my data processing career, companies that I worked for, often developed products and services, which were often, many months before they went into production, while having beta or demo products/services for user interaction and critiques.

Imagine in your world, where a company announces a product or service, and it immediately goes to sales, and things go horribly wrong with the user experience. What then? What would you do? Chances are that, all the people's money would have to be refunded for all of the faulty products and services, and, your company will end up with a very damaged reputation, if not out of business. There is also the trial balloon, where a company announces a product to gauge the potential users' reaction. If a product is very negatively received, then, a company will have time to either pull back the whole thing, or to go back to the drawing board for modifications.

But, knowing that, this is Free Republic, I never thought that I'd have to explain things that should be common sense, to somebody that, actually visits and posts in this forum. Perhaps you're still growing up, or are too juvenile to think about actions and reactions and repercussions? I call people with that kind of trait, "liberals". ;)