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Another Microsoft Exec Steps Down

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the another-one-bites-the-dust dept.

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."

9 of 315 comments (clear)

  1. sinking ship? by EggyToast · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Either there's simply more focus on MS this year, or something is up -- why would they all be leaving prior to Vista's launch? Especially all of these "no comment" departures. Gates' reduction in responsibility makes sense, but these other guys seem to be in rather important roles ("head blogger," "exec responsible for Google competition," etc) and are bailing out. I could understand if they had people lined up for these positions, but it seems like they're just leaving.

  2. Jumping Ship? by ironring2006 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is it just me or does it seem like a lot of people are jumping ship now? Has Microsoft finally spread themselves too thin? Have they become so huge now that they don't even know what to do with themselves under the multiple multiple layers of complexity? Anyone else forsee a large implosion in the foreseeable future? Maybe those that are smart enough realize that they are fighting a losing battle against Google, Linux, and OSS. Then again, they may just to enjoy their million$.

    1. Re:Jumping Ship? by mqj · · Score: 5, Interesting


      You are not the only one who thinks that lots of people are leaving.

      "...look for several dozen of his closest and oldest associates to leave the company in the next four to six weeks, and look for Steve Ballmer to leave, too, within a year."

      http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060615. html

  3. Microsoft should spin-out branches by boxlight · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The best thing that Microsoft could do for itself is spin-out their products into separate spin off companies.


    Windows, Inc.

    Office, Inc.

    MSN, Inc.

    Visual Studio, Inc.

    XBox, Inc.


    The smaller companies would be more nimble and would have to be more competative. They'd be better performers as they wouldn't have the mother organization as a cruch.


    boxlight

  4. Re:Is this good or bad? by Spiked_Three · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The evil was from the marketing guy jeff raikes (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/jeff/defa ult.mspx). He was from apple. The marketing people (and to some extent the HR people) were the most evil people I have ever worked for or with in my life. No holes barred get the sale no matter who you have to kill attitude.

    Raikes perfected the pre-canned answer to every question that gates and balmer soon adopted. Talking to anyone of them is like pressing buttons on a child's speak and spell toy - there is absolutely no thought behind what they say, just pr department approved pre-canned responses.

    Gates was a good guy. Balmer is a hot head that is out of his league but because of his friendship with bill and bill's desire to get out of it, balmer has had the lead for a while.

    But again, i reiterate, the evil is from the ruthless marketing leadership. Unfortunately they got the job done.

    --
    slashdot troll = you make a compelling argument I do not like the implications of.
  5. Re:Interesting... by Dionysos+Taltos · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Yes. I think it's safe to say a change in direction is at hand.

    Wired had an article last October which spoke to this.

    http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,69161,00 .html?tw=wn_tophead_7

    As Microsoft hits 30, critics reel off a list of complaints that sounds like, well, a Microsoft commercial: stifling bureaucracy, frustrating miscommunication, different units working on overlapping technology without adequate cooperation. In short, the very ills Microsoft promises to cure with its software.

    ...

    As it gears up to release a slew of new products, Microsoft is trying to untangle bureaucratic snags with a corporate shakeup meant to get the best ideas to market faster and increase the company's push toward over-the-Internet software and services.

    ...

    Microsoft is facing the classic dilemma that befalls a company that grows from a small startup to a major corporation, said the analyst Garrity. There's really no way to manage thousands of employees without a strong corporate structure, but that structure will inevitably alienate some workers who remember the freewheeling early days.

  6. Re:Is this good or bad? by Tony · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Gates was a good guy.

    For some definition of "good," perhaps. Everything I've heard and observed about the guy inidicates he hasn't been a good guy since about 7th grade, when the girls made fun of him for being a pussy.

    Gates cheated Paul Allen out of 1/6 stake in Microsoft. Later, when Allen was dying of cancer and overwork on MS-DOS, Gates and Ballmer discussed how to get Allen's stock back if he were to die.

    Gates gave almost nothing to charity until he married Melinda, and was publicly ridiculed for being selfish with his money.

    There are thousands of little examples like this that indicate he is not a "good" guy, and perhaps never was. Jeff Raikes may have been the most evil guy at Microsoft, but the Gates-worship that went on at Microsoft provided an environment in which Raikes' practices were acceptable.

    --
    Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
  7. Microsoft Has Improved by ThinkFr33ly · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At one time, IIS 5 looked hopeless. It was completely riddled with security holes and was basically the joke of the industry. People who used it did so with either ignorance or extreme caution.

    Microsoft realized they needed to fix this but it took Code Red and various other major worms that took advantage of IIS to really kick the company into gear.

    What was the result of this? IIS 6. IIS 6 is an excellent web server and is one of the most secure web servers you can use. It's certainly the most secure application server you can use. It's had a total of 2 vulnerabilities since its release about 4 years ago. (See: http://secunia.com/product/1438/) Add to that the fact that IIS 6 is extremely performant, easily configurable and maintainable, and is very robust, you have to conclude that Microsoft improved. A great deal in fact.

    I see the work on Windows Vista and IE 7 being very similar in nature to the work done on IIS. They've completely revamped their development methodologies to focus on security.

    IE 7+ (the one that comes with Vista) has a feature that essentially runs the browser as a very low privs user. Any operations that need high privs (such as writing to the user's desktop or other directories) are done by a broker. This broker has only a few thousand lines of code (and is therefore FAR easier to audit for security issues) and runs with the privs of the current user. This is actually fairly innovative and will undoubtedly make it far more difficult to exploit and holes in IE.

    Obviously we'll have to wait and see if Microsoft has done with Vista and IE what they did with IIS, but it's hard to deny that Microsoft has proven they can take a product people view as a hopeless security mess and turn it into one of the most secure products on the market.

  8. Re:Is this good or bad? by spot · · Score: 5, Interesting
    a recent damning example, Gates quoted in the NYTimes:
    "When they invented radial tires, they should have shot the guy," he said. "The whole industry went through a crisis, because it took nine years to squeeze out the extra factory capacity, because the tires lasted longer."
    ok let's ignore his overtly violent metaphor. focus instead on how he values innovation that saves lives and money.
    --

    Scott Draves