I am pretty certain that talk Spencer gave about updated revisions came before the first Neo leak. And at that point (when you tell the press) Scorpio must have been at least a year in development. So no, they most certainly were not surprised by Neo.
Agreed. No way was Microsoft surprised by Neo. Phil Spencer's talk and all, but long before that, in July 2014 (when Xbone was less than a year old) we have this:
Microsoft job posts: Xbox industrial designer for next gen + software engineer
Industrial Designer - Microsoft Devices Group - Xbox Industrial Design
The Xbox Industrial Design studio is building a world class in house team. We love entertainment. We live for building transformative entertainment experiences that resonate with consumers. We are looking for passionate designers who want to help us create next generation entertainment hardware for Microsoft.
Primary Responsibilities
This is a design position within the Xbox industrial design studio. You will be joining a team that drives vision and product development for Xbox hardware programs. The right candidate will be a hands on individual contributor that will bring thought leadership, inspirational creative output, and passion to the Xbox entertainment space. In essence, this position requires nothing less than a super creator.
As an industrial designer you will collaborate with design team and bring inventive ideas which will have large impact across the Xbox Entertainment Business.
We expect a spontaneous and innovative creative process that takes advantage of consumer insight harvesting, inspiration way-finding, 3d sketching, prototyping, thoughtful consideration
of business needs, and understanding of technical considerations. Above all the candidate should have a portfolio that demonstrates the ability to design soulful product experiences that delight consumers.
Senior Software Development Engineer
The Xbox Platform Developer Experience team is hiring! We own the core development tools for the Xbox console platform, and we serve as a driving advocate for the end-to-end developer customer experience across the program. We are looking for an exceptional SDE to help us take game development tools to the next level.
Game developers, from AAA studios to Indie shops, have unique and exacting needs. Just think about the factors involved: Game titles are only growing in cost and complexity with each new generation. These days the projects will involve scores of engineers and hundreds of artists. They have budgets and production values that rival Hollywood blockbusters. They have 10s of gigabytes of content, code tuned to get the utmost from our platform, and holiday release dates that wont move.
The Xbox ecosystem only thrives if these partners succeed. Our goal is to help them make better games, faster.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=852430
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/38997...l-designer-for-a-new-next-gen-xbox/index.html
http://wccftech.com/microsoft-super-creator-next-xbox-console-aiming-boost-game-dev-tools/
http://vgleaks.com/microsoft-looking-for-a-super-designer-to-create-its-next-xbox-hardware/