This post is apropos of nothing to do with CIOs or technology in general, but I just couldn't not say anything when I saw this gem on the Microsoft PR wire today: "Microsoft and Bungie Studios to Evolve Relationship."

You really just have to sort of stand back in awe at the sort of mind that can come up with that sort of headline, and you are set to wondering, was it something done under pressure, a snap call by a low-ranking but inspired staffer as the story went to press, or did it percolate up through the committee mill of the PR and legal departments, being poked, prodded, and finely honed at every step on its path to perfection?

If forced to stretch for a tie-in to the topicality this blog is supposed to cover, then I suppose I would say this is just another indicator to what extent the massive PR machine has taken over at Microsoft and works to spin even the most straightforward information into something it's not. There are arguments, mind you, that this isn't necessarily bad news for Microsoft (although I tend to subscribe more to the scenario presented by Jake Metcalf-who broke the story-earlier in the week that described the move as an inevitable outcome of expiring retention contracts), but nonetheless I think it points out to what extent they will try to paint dim news with glowing brush. They've become significantly more PR savvy as they have grown, and the firm that necessitated the origin of the term "vaporware" has built their business recently far more on what they say than what they do. At some point, one wonders, will they even have to deliver code at all? It's a new business model! "Evolving" indeed.