Microsoft CIO Stuart Scott Gets Axed

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 ;)

google time

[tritonman]

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

Re:google time

[Hanners1979]

That's a bit heartless - It was probably using Google and not Live Search that got him into trouble in the first place. ;)

Re:google time

[monkeyboythom]

How does a CIO get fired "after an investigation for violation of company policies"?

1. 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,
2. Tried to his station/authority to manipulate or obfuscate reporting numbers for a false picture of the company's standing or fiscal health. Did he misreport the Vista numbers, inflating them artifically (or report lower)? Any monkeying with reports to make himself look better or others look worse can get you fired in a Sarbanes-Oxley world.
3. Personal conduct. From HP spying on fellow board members and employees to outright unfavorable corporate behavior (e.g. being sleazy to the point of lawsuits) is yet another way of getting fired.

He came to Microsoft in 2005 so he's not a long timer in the company. If Microsoft is trying to push him out, then we'll see if he responds with a lawsuit.

Re:google time

[rrhal]

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

Re:

[michrech]

For those that managed to miss it, you can read a bit about it here [michaelhanscom.com].

Re:google time

[EriDay]

If we add:

4. Tried to hire CowboyNeal as Intern.

This can become a slashdot poll. Once the results are in, we'll know the real reason.

Re:google time

[ubrgeek]

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.

Re:

[VorpalRodent]

You, sir, are a liar. You cannot possibly have invented the internet.

We all know that the internet was invented by the same politician who is single-handedly saving us from global warming.

However, I will cede that the inventor of the automobile has not recently been in the news, and so its entirely feasible that you are he.

Re:google time

[Darby]

However, I will cede that the inventor of the automobile has not recently been in the news, and so its entirely feasible that you are he.

So what?

Dude, you're talking to the guy who invented the *superball*.
Try and get some perspective in future ;-)

Re:google time

[defile]

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 [wikipedia.org]

Re:google time

[rkanodia]

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.

Re:google time

[ajs]

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.

Re:google time

[soloport]

4) Couldn't say "Developers!" more than seven times in a row without getting tongue-tied.

Re:

[mqduck]

Did he misreport the Vista numbers, inflating them artifically

I thought that WAS company policy.

Re:google time

[blazerw11]

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.)

Re:

[Simon Brooke]

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.

Oh, come on. That's a company tradition. Bill Gates didn't just shag someone who reported to him [wikipedia.org], he married her.

Re:google time

[afidel]

Yeah but this guy was boning someone other than his wife who directly reported to him AND was expensing his love nest. That's a lot of no-no's including the big one, misappropriation of company funds.

Re:google time

[dwlovell]

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

Ballmer

[sentientbrendan]

is still pretty derideable. Not so much because he's running microsoft into the ground or anything. Overall, Microsoft is doing pretty well, and I'd probably say their stock and outlook is a bit undervalued by most people.

However, he's screwed up on two major fronts and kind of failed to repent on at least one of them.
1. He let the vista development get strung out like it did. This probably isn't largely his fault, but as CEO he should have realized something was going very wrong and forced the development

Re:

[MindKata]

"Maybe they found out he's running Debian or Ubuntu at home"

And from this, it looks like he has been in the job since summer 2005.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2005/dec05/12-05Scott.mspx [microsoft.com]

So its taken them 2 years to find out he is running linux. I guess two years to finally turn on a PC (to do some work), is about right for at Microsoft CIO.

... it must have been a rainy day, so he had to take the day off from the golf course. So I guess in the end, tech support reported him, once they f

obvious

[tomstdenis]

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

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

Re:

[darxider]

No. He bought a Mac.

Re:obvious

[Anonymous Coward]

>No, he was reading Slashdot all day

on a Mac :)

Re:

[ByOhTek]

From what I hear, there is already some Linux use inside MS. I don't think that would be the problem.

More likely backtracking and installing XP. I think MS is more worried about XP as a competator to Vista than Linux right now.

Which is hillarious, but at the same time, the probably think "at least we still make a profit with XP, unlike Vista"

Re:

[ByOhTek]

"in a weekend"? That's good?

In Windows, the worst TV tuner (an ATi All in Wonder) took at most 2 hours to set up, and then only because I had to get the video drivers as well. Most TV tuners took less than half an hour from insertion of board to watching TV.

Re:

[Lord Apathy]

And you think I am an idiot.

Mark Twann, I think, once said, "it's best to keep your mouth shut an let the world think your a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt." I'm pretty sure I butchered that quote but you should get the point. I would suggest that you take Mark Twann's advice to heart.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Mark who?

Re:

[Penguinisto]

Mark who?

Clemens.

(wait for it...)

/P

Re:obvious

[jkrise]

He was Chief Information officer, remember? So maybe he truthfully reported all the 14 sales of Vista?

No it wouldn't...

[ByOhTek]

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!

The reason...

[limabone]

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

I know what he did...

[Anonymous Coward]

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

balmer

[wwmedia]

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

Re:

[ByOhTek]

Lacking mod points, I'll just post instead

That is probably the funniest comment on this thread.

Belinda

[Anonymous Coward]

He was baggin' Belinda.

nudity

[Gigiya]

he deemed himself the "chief indecent officer", came to work naked, and refused to let anyone not notice his lack of clothes lolololol

Re:

[rubycodez]

if that's the case I want to be their CFO

Watching porno and ....

[Anonymous Coward]

Got caught playing with his Wii

political incorrect

[hyperinactive]

Stuart L. Scott's middle name is Linus.

Pretty remarkable

[dal20402]

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.

Re:

[dpilot]

Ahh, but if this speculation disappears shortly, we'll know.

Re:Pretty remarkable

[Billosaur]

Two words: sexual harassment.

Re:Pretty remarkable

[19thNervousBreakdown]

Yup. For one, at that level, or with management in general, it's always sexual harassment. Well, sometimes it's gross incompetence. The harassment I don't get, though. I mean, if they want some free sex, couldn't they just go to a bar and say, "Yeah, I'm a VP of a multi-billion dollar corporation, and I make nine thousand dollars an hour. Let's take my jet and go screw in the hot tub at my 4th summer place."

Nope. It's like it's the opposite of the thrill of the hunt for them, preying on people who (they think) can't really defend themselves.

Plus, you just look at this guy and you know he's a complete pussy hound. The insecure type, that's always chasing it like it's the last piece he'll ever get. Just totally ruled by it, the poor thing.

Then again, I could be completely wrong.

Re:

[fm6]

That would certainly explain why they're being so hush-hush. On the one hand, ignoring a sexual harassment complaint can get you sued. On the other hand, saying one of your people is accused of sexual harassment can also get you sued.

General principal: when somebody is being really, really tight-lipped, either they're planning on invading a foreign country or they're trying to avoid litigation. And the security measures are less extreme for the invasion! I've been in meetings about such issues where I was t

Re:Pretty remarkable

[Idaho]

That's the rumour [blogspot.com] indeed. It's unlikely that this will be "officially" confirmed by any of the parties involved.

Stupidly quoting myself but...on second thought, the rumour is not "sexual harassment", but at least the first word was involved.

Apparently he was having an affair with a direct subordinate.

Re:

[AVee]

Frankly, I doubt that would be enough reason to fire him this public, not at that level. He really pissed off someone, so unless the last name of this subordinate was Balmer I fairly sure it involves money somewhere.

Re:Pretty remarkable

[Mark_in_Brazil]

Apparently he was having an affair with a direct subordinate.

Um... I have to ask these questions, even though I know the 'turfers are going to pound me for it with negative mods.

Can that really be the case?
More to the point, was Melinda French a direct subordinate of Bill Gates?

FWIW, I honestly don't know and seriously wonder. The Wikipedia article on her just says she was the "unit manager" (huh huh - insert humorous comment here) for several Microsoft products (Publisher, Bob, Encarta, and Expedia).

Re:

[Shotgun]

I was going to moderate, but I have to respond to this.

All the "seminars" I've been to lead to me to understand that you can't separate the two. I quote "seminars", because they really don't provide information as much as they provide warnings.

-If you doink a subordinate, it can be view as sexual harassment, whether it was consenual or not, or whether quid pro quo was offered or not.
-If another employee knows you're doinking another subordinate, it can be view as sexual harassment, whether it was consenua

Re:Pretty remarkable

[Red Flayer]

The fact that his termination was this public and graceless tells me he did something pretty egregious

I agree, but I think the reasons for public termination may be different. Possibly harassment or discrimination or something like that. Pay off harassed employee, with public termination of the harasser as a condition of the settlement.

I somehow find it hard to believe that MS would want to warn other corporations about hiring him.

It could also be a problem that other MS employees are aware of, and the public termination sends a notice to employees who would cross the same lines he did. Plus, it sends the message that the highest-ups face consequences for their actions, and thus can be good for company morale among the drones.

Indirect warning, lawsuit avoidance

[Shivetya]

I somehow find it hard to believe that MS would want to warn other corporations about hiring him.

this day and age a company can get whacked for giving out truthful but otherwise damaging reviews of former employees. There have been numerous occasions where former consulting companies I worked for would ask about someone I may have worked with just to get a picture they cannot get from past employers. By doing it this way Microsoft is able to pass along the big red flag without actually setting themselves up for defamation suits

Re:

[Red Flayer]

You misunderstand. He was not given the opportunity to resign. He was canned, and not for purely performance-related reasons (instead, for violating company policy in some manner).

This is not about hiding it, it's about how MS chose to terminate him, and how, not whether, they chose to publicize it.

Re:

[acvh]

Insightful comment above. For a "Chief Anything Officer" to be terminated the behavior must have been directly offensive to the CEO and/or the Board of Directors. Stealing their money is one, but I think it unlikely in this case. For one, you can be criminally charged for that, and why would they let him off so easy?

My guess is that he disclosed, to a third party, some information about Microsoft that, while not on the level of corporate espionage, was something Microsoft wanted kept secret. You know, somet

Random medical screening results

[ciaohound]

A test came back negative -- his body was NOT composed of pure evil, which of course violates MS company policy. Subsequent tests confirmed it, although he is appealing to the World Anti-Doping Agency. Floyd Landis was unavailable for comment.

Violation

[DoofusOfDeath]

Microsoft has terminated its CIO Stuart Scott for 'violation of company policies'. They won't elaborate.

He probably installed OpenBSD in an all-RedHat shop? Tool...

He got fired because...

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:He got fired because...

[nuzak]

Congratulations on posting the first reply that looks like it was penned by someone over the age of 15. The rest of the lame joke comments make me feel like I'm on digg.

obligatory

[DeepHurtn!]

Gee, I bet you're a lot of fun at parties!

Typo....

[NewbieProgrammerMan]

After reading the first dozen posts, I realized you made a mistake:

...they could post it anonymously and be totally fine because there will be a hundred other totally fucking stupid guesses...

self.don(flame_retardant_suit)

Clippy

[redshirt1111]

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

No, no no...

[j.sanchez1]

Ballmer found out he named his kids Ubuntu and Google

Helped someone bypass WGA?

[Rogerborg]

And it wasn't that he bypassed WGA, it was that he helped someone.

Maybe I'm too cynical

[faloi]

But for someone at CIO level to get canned it was either something that borders, or is just straight up illegal that MS is trying to keep under wraps primarily because it would damage their reputation, whether it was something tacitly approved by them or completely unknown to them. Or, possibly, they had it out for him and used some minor infringement as the basis for letting him go. Something like "Sorry, the company limit on gifts from vendors and suppliers is $50, and that widget was clearly $51 after tax!"

Either way I'm sure he has some majestic golden parachute that will help ensure that neither he nor his family could potentially go hungry for the next 5 generations if they're marginally competent at managing money, provided he never talks about it...of course.

Re:

[stoolpigeon]

At my last job, when the CIO was fired all hush-hush and mysterious like, it was because he was stealing. They didn't want that out and made a deal for him to pay back the money rather than go to jail. I think you are right - it was something along those lines.

Probably not trying to hide something

[snowwrestler]

When a business wants to hide the wrong-doing of an executive, they buy them out and everyone keeps their mouth shut. One publicly terminates an executive when one wants to send a public message. Often the message is that the business is responsive to a situation. So if the executive is harassing someone, or committing a crime, the business can try to limit its liability by showing that it took all possible steps to remedy the situation.

Also, at the executive level, ticky-tack reasons for firing someone aren't really applicable. If the CEO doesn't like the CIO, he just cans him and brings in his own guy. This can be a kind of message too...fire a rival and consolidate power. And if that turns in an employment lawsuit, a little gift violation is not going to stand up in court.

Stop crime now - use unreasonable force

[Benson Arizona]

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

Re:

[The MAZZTer]

They remembered to sack the people responsible for the initial sacking too, right?

Perhaps someone figured out

[jayhawk88]

...that he's the BOFH [theregister.co.uk]? In which case expect him to be back within a week with a 20% raise, and Steve Ballmer nowhere to be found.

Maybe he is really...

[seanellis]

Pamela Jones!

Rumor: love affair

[slashflood]

... according to ValleyWag [valleywag.com].

two wild guesses

[mzs]

Microsoft basically paid for the new members in the Swedish OOXML vote and a subsidiary of Microsoft in Hungary was raided by the police in July. I have no knowledge that it is related to either of this, an out-right firing of such a high level person usually means basically stealing money. Not even a sexual harassment scandal would do that, just a quiet resignation.

A couple of problems

[Anonymous Coward]

There are a couple of problems with the theory that a Microsoft insider would anonymously post the truth behind Stu's termination:

1. Only a few of us know the truth, posting the truth is a good way to violate company policies, and you see what happens when you violate company policies, so even anonymous posting just means pressure is applied to ... let's just say a few ... people until it is determined who the one is and BOOM, job over
2. We don't like really like slashdotters that much, so we don't care if you never know the real reason
3. The truth is not exciting or anything...it's just mundane policy violation...so posting it is less enjoyable than reading all the wild-ass guesses
4. Halloween is over

I'll never tell. Even if I did, you'd be all "Meh" and say the idea that he was bangin' Melinda or selling Microsoft secret plans to Google is much more intriguing. So, sure, he was a Google mole. Just run with that one.

Re:A couple of problems

[mav[LAG]]

My guess is that this post is from a real Microsoft insider, probably someone in support or IT.

Arrogant? Check.
Condescending? Check.
Thinks "slashdotters" are some kind of homogeneous Microsoft-bashing species? Check.
Thinks Google competes with Microsoft? Check.
Gives out information which is absolutely no use to anyone? Check.

It just has the ring of truth.

He had an affair with a subordinate

[Anonymous Coward]

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 [pollsb.com]

Distributing Microsoft Products?

[starman97]

Says here 'Scott was charged with the distribution of Microsoft products among employees.'

So, was he bootlegging Halo betas?
  I cant see them firing him for giving out copies of Vista.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/microsoft-executive-fired-violating-company/story.aspx?guid=%7B3C9D5FC9-8119-4559-93AE-8FA7ED975002%7D&dist=hplatest [marketwatch.com]

Strange no one mentioned this

[Rui del-Negro]

Is it a coincidence this happened so shortly after Microsoft finally accepted to comply with the EC's decision [reuters.co.uk] in the anti-trust case?

It might be totally unrelated, but I noticed no one had mentioned this yet.

You guys are nuts!

[erc]

You guys are nuts ... for a big company to say that a high-ranking employee was fired for any reason is a pretty risky thing to do from a legal standpoint. They must've had a darned good reason to can Scott. Even when a CXX is caught doing something, it's usually handled much more gracefully - he's allowed to resign "for personal reasons" or "to seek a different position" or allowed to stay on the payroll while he finds another job, even if the true reason was that the guy was sleeping with his secretary or got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He also might've been caught on the losing end of a corporate power play - the folks who report to him and the folks who are his peers are always jockeying for position, looking for an opportunity to look good to *his* boss in case they see an opportunity to set him up to get rid of him...

Regardless, most of the opinions posted here about why the guy was sacked are just plain silly.

Read the ToS

[Nom du Keyboard]

He should have read the ToS before he broke open the shrink-wrap on his office.

one of three things

[jollyreaper]

My guess is snuff, kiddie pr0n, or necrophilia. Or he may have really crossed the line and gotten into the furry stuff.

Re:

[greichert]

... telling Apple how to implement a Blue Screen Of Death [slashdot.org] in MacOS X.

Re:

[thatskinnyguy]

Lol You totally missed something. Were they Office 2003 supplies or Office 2007 supplies? There is a difference.

Re:

[andawyr]

Building a better life, was he?

Tabloids for nerds, things that don't matter...

[mattgreen]

...often the reality is much simpler and mundane...

What are you doing bringing reality into this? We're trying to film the nerd equivalent of 90210 here, and you barge in with your 'reality' like it actually means something!

Re:

[ByOhTek]

I doubt it is anything so draconian as that. I've heard of many competitor products being used inside of MS HQ.

The catch-all is probably something more subtle, like requiring employees turn off the lights in the office/cube when they leave, or something like that - easily forgettable and innocuous.

(Note: most companies I've seen have these to give them a right to fire anyone for any reason, so MS really shouldn't be treated differently from anyone else on this matter).

And he wasn't necessarily caught by a c

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[Halo-]

The catch-all is probably something more subtle, like requiring employees turn off the lights in the office/cube when they leave, or something like that - easily forgettable and innocuous. (Note: most companies I've seen have these to give them a right to fire anyone for any reason, so MS really shouldn't be treated differently from anyone else on this matter).

IANAL, but I strongly suspect that in order of any of these "catch-alls" to be enforceable, they would have to be applied in a demonstratively consistent fashion.
I'm pretty sure most major companies realize that their CIO has enough money and savvy to hire a good lawyer if their grounds for dismissal is questionable. A dismissal like this is going to damage his reputation, and I'm sure if he thinks the reason behind it is BS, he's going to go for damages.
In

And he wasn't necessarily caught by a catch-all. It's also possible he did something legitimately harmful.

I think it's highly likely that he di

Re:

[Ubergrendle]

There's a few dangers with this approach...IANALB...

#1, if he can prove in court that Microsoft wasn't actively supporting this policy at all times and simply used it as an excuse to dismiss him, Microsoft would be legally liable. Same with using him as a scapegoat or as an example; disproportionate application of corporate policies is a big no-no. Varies by state-to-state of course.

#2, just because a corporation has an HR policy does not necessarily mean that its legal. This is somewhat less likely si

Re:

[tgd]

Eh, if you walk around their campus you see iPhones, you see iPods, their employees use Google and GMail.

Now maybe at his level its different, but they are not cold blooded fascists who instill fear in their employees.

Its hard to keep 75k of them if you do.

Re:Ballmer Attitude?

[CmdrGravy]

The real reason for this should be immediately obvious to anyone as schooled in espionage as I am.

A common gambit for agencies wishing to implant a mole into a rival agency is to first of all establish their lack of attachment for the potential mole, common techniques for this are high profile embarrasing sackings or similar. Just as we see here.

Don't be surprised to see this guy revert to the life of an itinerant alcoholic for a while telling the world about how he made it big with one of the top dogs in the software industry and how he could have been great if the bastards hadn't dragged him down like that and how he'd do anything for revenge.

The aim obviously is for him to be hired by Red Hat or someone similar where he can then work from within to destroy them.

It's all obvious for those looking at the right signs.

Re:Ballmer Attitude?

[Deadstick]

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

Sorry to burst your bubble ...

[jchenx]

Maybe his daughter was caught using an iPod? Or perhaps his work machine's cache was found to have a Google Search results page in it?

But, in all seriousness, it wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft had a very stringent agreement with it's employees such that you're guilty of violating company policy at all times. Something really vague and impossible to avoid like "you shall not support a competitor in anyway with any of your personal funds or free time." They only let you go if they want to and so few get le

Re:He was caught...

[Rogerborg]

Hey, I like how you just copied a post directly off the story site! That's the spirit of re-use in action.

Re:

[dintech]

More likely he side-stepped some chair related punishment. That's grounds for dismissal at MS I think.

Seriously though, I think considering his level it's possible that it could be in relation to some kind of trading of MS stock. Either himself or someone he knows.

Re:

[dkf]

Seriously...who has SEVEN CHILDREN? On PURPOSE?

Mormons?

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously...who has SEVEN CHILDREN? On PURPOSE?

Mormons... The correct answer is Mormons.

Re:Some information...

[Daniel Dvorkin]

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.

Re:Some information...

[Pharmboy]

Seriously...who has SEVEN CHILDREN? On PURPOSE?

My mom.

Really, no joke. I'm the 6th of 7. Not saying she isn't insane, just saying some people want lots of kids.

Re:

[ettlz]

I'm the 6th of 7.

...that's not a canonical drone identifier, please specify adjunct and unimatrix numbers as well.

Re:Some information...

[tokul]

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.

There's your answer...

[gosand]

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.

Re:

[FlyByPC]

For stealing boxes?!?!

Yes. Eight-Xeon-CPU "boxes," with 64GB of memory, 200-TB RAID arrays of solid-state drives, and next-generation GPUs that make the ST Holodeck look lame.