Microsoft Ousts IE Mobile Manager For Revealing Nokia Phone Details

suraj.sun writes with an article in CNet concerning the axing of a Microsoft employee for revealing a few too many details about the upcoming Nokia Windows Phone. From the article: "...Joe Marini, who worked as a Seattle-based principal program manager on the Windows Phone team, tweeted: 'I just got a chance to try out one of the slickest looking #Nokia phones I have ever seen. Soon, you will too!' The tweet contained a Windows Phone 7 hashtag, #WP7. Marini sent subsequent tweets about the device, including one that rated it an '8' and another that said 'the camera was good, but I didn't have optimal lighting.' ... Marini stepped down after being informed that he would be let go for violating Microsoft's social-media and blogging policy (PDF). "

Comments

Re:What detail was revealed?

[Missing.Matter]

it doesn't really matter what the content was, it's probably more that he was blogging about confidential unreleased products. If he signed something that said he would not do this, and went on to do just that, he violated the agreement even though his comments were positive.

sort of dumb decision, but not that unusual

[Trepidity]

It's not even particularly new for companies to be super paranoid about "leaks", and to interpret what constitutes a leak very broadly. Apple is probably more paranoid, for example, and Apple employees tend to just avoid Tweeting anything Apple-related for that reason.

I do agree that this was stupid, unless there's something more to the story; it doesn't appear that he actually leaked anything that could plausibly be considered secret, and certainly not any interesting secrets.

I also like the now-self-referential part of the policy that recommends employees think, before they take an action online:

How would it look on Slashdot or on the front page of the New York Times?

Microsoft reads slashdot.

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

From the Blogging FAQ:

How would it look on Slashdot or on the front page of the New York Times?

Microsoft considers Slashdot to be on the same level as the New York Times! The Ironic thing is the original tweet did not make slashdot. The reaction from Microsoft did.

I work there, Everyone was told not to do this.

[Anonymous Coward]

ok, I work there, so this is firsthand information. In the last 4 months it has been beat into us NOT to tweet/talk/post/facebook anything about anything not yet released. It all started around the MGX leaks of the past, feeding into the WP7 announcements, and the recent Win8 announcements. We are not to even tweet anything that has been recently released. (Win8). An entirely new program has been developed around the new social medis policies, and people are going to the HR training for it. There is no way you can miss all of the warnings and decrees from on high about this. Sorry, a very important rule was broken. He is being made the example. Sucks, but don't break important rules.

Re:Harmless Speech

[Talderas]

This is a non-story.

Microsoft employee violated company policy about blogging by posting details about the phone. Employee was going to be fired for violating the policy. It doesn't matter if the violation was benign or not. The only reasons this is on slashdot is because

A. The story is about Microsoft.
B. It's about company policies perhaps being "unfair".

I think it's mostly A and very little B.