A 56-page PowerPoint file supposedly containing plans for Microsoft’s next generation gaming console was posted on Scribd last weekend. The file has since found a home on multiple hosting services and websites but that run could be short-lived as Microsoft’s legal team has reportedly been sending takedown notices to sites hosting the writings.
The original file has been removed from Scribd at the request of Covington & Burling LLP, a group that represents Microsoft according to their client list. Furthermore, a technology site based in the Czech Republic called Ihned.cz received a letter from Alan Radford, an Internet investigator working on behalf of Microsoft.
The letter notes that a domain under the site owner’s control is offering unlicensed copies of, or is engaging in other unauthorized activities with relation to copyrighted material owned by Microsoft. The document is referred to as the IEB Roadmap in the letter. The author asks that the content be removed or have access to it disabled.
If Microsoft is indeed asking websites to stop hosting the file, one would have to think that the leaked document is indeed genuine. Of course, a two-year-old PowerPoint file is likely outdated at this point but there’s little doubt that a majority of the material found within will be coming down the pipeline at some point.
The document was allegedly written in 2010 and chronicles multiple events that have come to fruition since its inception but as CNET points out, the interesting bits include mention of a $299 Xbox 720 bundled with a Kinect 2 camera accessory. The bundle is expected to launch in time for the 2013 holiday buying season with plans for a 10-year lifecycle and a goal to sell 100 million units.
