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Comment by roryokane | Hacker News Reader

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> We're planning to release the drivers as part of a Windows update in the near future; however, today, I am happy to offer early access to our dedicated PC gamers on MajorNelson.com.

screamed “trojan” to me when I read it. It sounded like a random site was claiming to be affiliated with Microsoft, and was trying to get me to download and install a malicious driver. (The comments say the driver has a signature that Windows does not recognize.)

However, the site does seem legitimate. http://majornelson.com/general-blog-faq/ explains who the site owner is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Hryb, the Director of Programming for Xbox Live. And the site has many real commenters who seem to treat the site owner as an authority.

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Yes, MajorNelson is fairly well-known in the Xbox-using community (actually better known by the pseudonym than as Larry Hryb). He really is Microsoft's Xbox Live director.

But this is about a software release for the PC gaming community, not the Xbox community. Handling things this way shows that somebody's got an embarrassing (though mostly harmless) PR blind spot. It's fine for Microsoft to have it as a goal that everyone who plays PC games is also part of their Xbox ecosystem, but pretending in any way that it's already that way is off-putting and not helping.

At the moment, this release is targeting the Xbox community, because that's who owns Xbox One controllers. I'm sure Microsoft will do a proper page on a more Microsofty domain in due time when they actually release the drivers with Windows.

> "I am happy to offer early access to our dedicated PC gamers on MajorNelson.com"

There's a definite conflict between the statement that they're targeting "dedicated PC gamers" and the action that they're doing it through the Xbox community. Come to think of it, does Microsoft even have an established gaming-oriented channel through which to release something like this apart from their console-oriented Xbox branded stuff?

This looks like a way to beta test the drivers with enthusiasts who would likely have an Xbox One controller already. People who don't have one yet likely wouldn't go buy one to try early drivers, so it seems reasonable to reach out to the community through the Xbox channel.

(Disclaimer: I work at MS, nowhere near Xbox.)

Any intermediate that people would learn about the drivers from would know what major nelson's website is. Nobody is checking microsoft.com for product announcements anyway, they get it through news outlets. The outlets (and enthusiasts who would post to social media) already know who major nelson is.

I think just about everyone in the Xbox community is aware of Major Nelson.

Major Nelson is well regarded in the Xbox community.

His insincerity is at odds with someone like Phil Spencer, and it's not a surprise that Phil is in the position he is in now.

He hosts a podcast and a big part of his job involves personality, not being a business robot. That doesn't mean he can't fire his business guns, or that you should slam him for it just because you're unfamiliar with an XBox sub-brand that is responsible for xbox announcements every now and then.

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