I think it's always a bad idea to respond to criticism here, but what the hell.
Microsoft called this a Preview Release. Which I probably should have explicitly spelled out. I assumed that the fact that I said it was sent to a limited number of WEP members in the lede was enough, but clarity is always good.
There isn't an NDA attached, nor is the software described as Beta in any place. Beta implies to me that it's not feature complete, but I wouldn't interpret the sentence in the email you mentioned the same way, especially after filling out the survey, which didn't ask about my PC's crash history at all, only general questions about my preferences re: Windows vs. Mac.
TFA (as you so eloquently put it) is not an editorial or a review, simply a report about what this application does. In the course of the article I explain what this app does and how that compares to similar applications. I certainly didn't sugarcoat anything, but I don't feel like it was anti-MS. Reading it again, I see how you might see bias if you're looking for bias, but it certainly wasn't my intent to do anything more than report the facts.