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Microsoft CIO Stuart Scott Gets Axed

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the well-isn't-that-mysterious dept.

avjt writes "Microsoft has terminated its CIO Stuart Scott for 'violation of company policies'. They won't elaborate. Now what do you think this guy has done?" Ya know, I'm positive someone reading this story knows the answer to the mystery... and they could post it anonymously and be totally fine because there will be a hundred other totally wrong guesses and it would be completely impossible to distinguish the two ;)

26 of 533 comments (clear)

  1. google time by tritonman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Time to google for articles where he said something good about Linux...

    1. Re:google time by blazerw11 · · Score: 5, Informative

      After reading through all of the comments. You don't want to do this unless your really bored. It looks like he was having an affair with a VP that reports to him. Type "/ValleyWag" to find the comment with the informative link. (If you are using IE, user your circa 1983 find function.)

      --
      A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. -- William James
    2. Re:google time by rrhal · · Score: 5, Funny

      4) Took pictures of MacIntosh Computers being unloaded into his building.

      --
      All generalizations are false, including this one. Mark Twain
    3. Re:google time by ubrgeek · · Score: 5, Funny

      Misrepresented himself. Is his resume completely honest? Some have been canned for claiming work that they didn't do or graduated from schools when they didn't

      I resent that.

      ubrgeek
      MA, BS, PhD - Cambridge, Yale, Harvard
      Inventor of automobile, SuperBall(tm) and the Internet.

      --
      Bark less. Wag more.
    4. Re:google time by dwlovell · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, because quarter after quarter of record revenues AND profits means your company is crumbling. Not to mention their stock is the highest its been in 5 years.

      But, yes crumbling, disaster!!

      -David

    5. Re:google time by defile · · Score: 5, Informative

      You are referring to this, presumably?

      "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system."

      You can't even convince politicians in Congress today that there is value in having anything to do with the internet besides enacting child protection laws. Gore has understood the value since the 1970s and been acted in his political capacity to develop and support legislation that created it and brought it to the public. Exactly what other kind of creation do you expect from politicians? Can only the guys on the front-lines take credit for creating something? Does it somehow diminish their value by acknowledging Gore's contribution?

      See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore's_contributions_to_the_Internet_and_technology#Congressional_work_and_Gore_Bill

    6. Re:google time by rkanodia · · Score: 5, Informative
      Two things: first, research in network protocols costs a lot of money. Second, building the infrastructure costs a lot of money. Geeks may not like to admit that, but it counts for a lot. Saying that the internet had already been 'created' is rather disingenuous. If the internet of today consisted of a couple hundred research institutions which were connected via a haphazard set of links of dubious uptime, then you wouldn't be able to buy things on Amazon.com or get Google Maps on your cellphone or call your friends on Skype or look up Al Gore on Wikipedia. Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn had this to say about the 'Al Gore claims he invented the internet' meme:

      [A]s the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore's contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time. Last year the Vice President made a straightforward statement on his role. He said: "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet." We don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he "invented" the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening. We feel it is timely to offer our perspective. As far back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship. Though easily forgotten, now, at the time this was an unproven and controversial concept.

      So if you know more about the early days of the internet/the late days of ARPANET than Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, I would consider myself extraordinarily fortunate if a person of such amazing insight could shed some light on their mistake.
    7. Re:google time by ajs · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He said he was involved in creating the internet, which had already been created years before his "initiative". Ah... no. Try again.

      In the early-to-mid 1980s when the Internet as we know it was evolving out of the ARPANet, Gore was on the floor of Congress yammering on about how this crazy new tech was going to be important, and the U.S. had to be there first. He argued for vastly more funding to the NSF than anyone thought the Internet needed (it's just some computer geeks linking research databases, right?) I remember reading about his efforts on Usenet back in the late 80s and wondering, "I know why this is important, but how they heck does a politician know?!" In the end, of course, it was more important than either the geeks or the politicians could have predicted.

      Go read the Congressional Record for his speeches about the Internet. The funding for the development of all of those low-number RFCs like DNS and SMTP came from projects that Gore pushed as if he actually knew why they were important. Did he? I have no clue, but if I don't give props to the one politician to see the value in the Internet from the start, I'll never convince any politician that doing right by technology is going to help their careers. We have enough of the, "the Senator from Disney," types already, and I'd rather not have more.
  2. obvious by tomstdenis · · Score: 5, Funny

    Got fed up with Vista and installed $SOME_DISTRO instead. :-)

    Somehow this is gonna cost me karma... :-(

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
    1. Re:obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      >No, he was reading Slashdot all day

      on a Mac :)

  3. No it wouldn't... by ByOhTek · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ya know, I'm positive someone reading this story knows the answer to the mystery... and they could post it anonymously and be totally fine because there will be a hundred other totally wrong guesses and it would be completely impossible to distinguish the two ;)


    Taco said in one of his write-ups, comments will (very rarely) be removed for legal reasons.

    Whichever post dissapears after MS sends an email threatening legal action. That is the reason... Everyone, ready your screenshots!
    --
    Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
  4. The reason... by limabone · · Score: 5, Funny

    When filling out a form, under the section that said 'DO NOT WRITE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE' he wrote 'OK'

  5. I know what he did... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    He bought a Sony Playstation 3, then looked for help setting it up via Google on his Linux based computer.

  6. balmer by wwmedia · · Score: 5, Funny

    balmer run out of chairs to toss! so he moved onto the management, which is a smart move they are thick as wood anyways

  7. political incorrect by hyperinactive · · Score: 5, Funny

    Stuart L. Scott's middle name is Linus.

  8. Pretty remarkable by dal20402 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Usually, at levels this high, executives who misbehave are quietly asked to resign. The fact that his termination was this public and graceless tells me he did something pretty egregious, because Microsoft apparently wants to not just get rid of him but warn other corporations not to hire him. Misappropriation of corporate funds, in some way, seems the most likely candidate to me.

    Please note I'm not informed at all, just speculating.

  9. He got fired because... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know several people who currently work at Microsoft. It's not because he installed linux or owns an ipod or some such silliness, since I know these people have done those things. I would imagine that it's actually something more serious, like an inappropriate work relationship (still thinking it's not something they would fire you for, at the CIO level) or divulging info to a competitor or inappropriate use of company funds.

  10. Clippy by redshirt1111 · · Score: 5, Funny

    He told Clippy to, and I quote, "Get Bent".

  11. Stop crime now - use unreasonable force by Benson+Arizona · · Score: 5, Funny

    Terminating him seems a bit harsh - couldn't they just have sacked him?

  12. Maybe he is really... by seanellis · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pamela Jones!

    --
    Sean Ellis
    Follow OfQuack's antics on Twitter.
  13. Rumor: love affair by slashflood · · Score: 5, Informative

    ... according to ValleyWag.

  14. He had an affair with a subordinate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The rumor mill is already gushing about the story: turns out Scott had an affair with one of his subordinates, who recently go a big promotion that raised many eye brows around the company. The two were on leave together when the investigation started: http://www.pollsb.com/polls/poll/3617/microsoft-fires-cio-stuart-scott-possibly-for-inter-office-affair-with-his-subordinate

  15. Re:Some information... by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The poor guy is unemployed and has seven (that we know about so far) children to support.

    The "poor guy" was a top executive for one of the biggest corporations in the world. I can pretty much guarantee you that he and his litter o' puppies aren't going to be out on the street any time soon. They may have to scale down their lifestyle a bit ... like, say, sell one of their yachts ... but this isn't $JOE_DOWNSIZED_TECH_WORKER we're talking about.

    --
    The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
  16. Re:Some information... by tokul · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seriously...who has SEVEN CHILDREN? On PURPOSE?
    One drove too fast and they are six
    One went to wrong place and they are five
    One learned to fly a plane (almost) and they are four
    One was a brave astronaut until shuttle crashed
    One slept with wrong wife and they are two
    One used wrong crack and there is only one
    Last boy is a nerd. End of your genealogy tree.
  17. There's your answer... by gosand · · Score: 5, Funny
    He helped "ensure that Microsoft is the "first and best customer" of its own products."


    There's your answer - he pushed them to use Vista internally.

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

  18. Re:Ballmer Attitude? by Deadstick · · Score: 5, Funny
    It really wouldn't surprise me if they treated their employees the same way they treat their customers.

    Well, that's what ValleyWag says he was doing...

    rj