Slashdot Mirror
Another Microsoft Exec Steps Down
Arcanimus writes "On Tuesday, the corporate vice president of Windows Live and MSN marketing, Martin Taylor, announced that he is leaving Microsoft.
Just three months ago, Taylor was appointed to his new position to manage the marketing of Windows Live. In his 13 years with the company, Taylor even worked directly with CEO Steve Ballmer."
As evil as Microsoft is, I've never been able to decide whether or not Bill Gates himself is evil. My suspect, even, that Microsoft's evil behavior is an emergent property of their corporate culture. No one individual person in Microsoft (well, actually, I think Balmer is a nutball) is truly evil. It's like how one termite is insignificant, but a colony of them can destroy an entire neighborhood. :)
Still, a lot of corporate culture comes down from the top. Gates' ambition to have "microsoft products on every computer in every home" turns into overly aggressive business behavior. With him and others going, are things going to improve for the rest of us? Or have any of these guys been keeping others in check, and they're about to get worse?
I suspect that this is not really a big deal. Ray Ozzie likely want to have a chance to set up his own exec staff and this guy does not figure in that plan. I won't be surprised if other folks leave over the next couple of years as the company transitions from Gates to Ozzie.
FTFA...
That doesn't sound like he resigned to go elsewhere, but more like "There's the door, someone grab his badge and escort him out."
We'll probably never know why, but this is Slashdot, so speculation is almost as good as fact.
"no comment departures" are a result of the HR department giving you a nice sevrance package and, in return, making you sign a document that says you won't comment.
why would they all be leaving prior to Vista's launch?
Same reason so many people bailed out of Apple once the scope of the Copland disaster was realized. This was before Apple started talking to NeXT or Be, and it was pretty clear that having Apple on your resume would Not Be a Good Thing once it all hit the fan.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Or in this case fired. Monday morning being quoted in press releases, scheduled to be in a press briefing ion the afternoon. Monday afternoon escorted from the building. A senior exec with 13 years service. Must have been a very sudden decision, Friday is the traditional day for premeditated firing.
I fear for my children's future when I read that "head blogger" is an important role anywhere, let alone a company of Microsoft's size.
I'm not saying that is isn't, just that I fear...
I tremble...
these people truly think they are doing the right thing. They are not inherently evil, even if their actions end up seeming that way. In the end it is a skewed view of the individual, not someone being actively evil.
At the risk of calling out the Godwin Nazis, Hitler and Sadaam also truly thought they were doing the right thing for their respective countries and were honestly not trying to be evil, but were trying to be a savior for their respective peoples. Anyone who knew them personally knows that.
It is amazing how many people don't understand this basic thing, that no successful leader considers himself evil, but sincerely considers his opponents evil, i.e. the caricatures of the Jews in the case of Hitler, etc., as the source of all evil. And there is some logic that can be used to justify any such demonization. It is spin leading to polarization, which is what makes the world go around and often becomes the excuse for ignoring one's own supposed ethics and morals.
One of Gate's villified enemies (I can name a series of others) was so-called software piracy, which he more than anyone else has made into a crime more than it ever was before. As much credit as the uninformed give him for progress in computers, this has destroyed growth and freedom that would have come otherwise. Could Unix have emerged under the current copyright regime? Operating systems would have been built for commodotized hardware one way or the other, but it was one more degree of freedom lost that is now hard to recover from under his shadow.
The appropriate cliche is "rats leaving a sinking ship"
In this case, it is well in advance of Vista shipping, so maybe it is more like a game of catch by the three stooges tossing around a hand granade. Somebody gets left holding on to the booby prize when it the spam hits the wall, so to speak.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Big shake-up going on at Microsoft. I wonder if this is related to Limbo Longhorn, or if something else is in the works. Change in direction, maybe?
It's not even a small shakeup. Microsoft's upper management people are simply getting to the age where they want to retire. Techies tend to retire at a lot younger age, as soon as they make their first $million. People who go into management tend to be looking for a bigger fortune and stick around longer, but even they quit eventually. There are likely to be a number of high-tech big-shots retiring in this decade. It's a non-event.