02.05.10
Microsoft Exodus Continues as Another Vice President Jumps Ship
Summary: Mike Nash is the latest bad man to abandon Microsoft, but he will be moving to Amazon where the management is already filled with other former Microsoft executives
THEY are dropping like flies these days. At this current pace, there may be no-one left to manage Microsoft (with experience), whose profits keep declining [1, 2, 3, 4] and whose employees are mentioning layoffs again.
The latest corporate vice president who flees Microsoft will work on a Linux gadget, the Kindle.
Microsoft confirmed today that Mike Nash is leaving the company. The longtime Microsoft executive worked most recently as corporate vice president in charge of Windows 7 platform strategy.
This was mostly covered by the Microsoft bloggers [1, 2] and the Microsoft press [1, 2] (that which can only glorify or at last defend the criminal, convicted company). We saw Mike Nash in a variety of anti-competitive memos (Comes vs Microsoft), some of which we wrote posts about [1, 2, 3]. Nash was part of the groupthink of criminals and he will soon join many former Microsoft employees and executives who ended up in Amazon. There is a danger of entryism to be aware of and here is another new example of a former vice president from Microsoft entering another company:
Ed Fries, the Seattle video game pioneer who previously served as vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, has joined the board of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Canesta. The 45-year-old executive — who currently leads “World of Warcraft” figurine startup FigurePrints — said in a release that Canesta represents a “very unique opportunity” in 3-D sensing technologies.
It seems inevitable that Microsoft will implode, but the impact on other companies is worth examining. █
Agent_Smith said,
February 5, 2010 at 10:26 am
Well, when the poop hits the fan, it’s going to be poop everywhere… Hope they can’t spread the M$ habits though…
Dennis Murczak said,
February 5, 2010 at 11:34 am
Besides the fact that most other companies are plainly more attractive/futureproof as an employer, the poisonous corporate culture at MS seems to be another major factor that drives executives out. A former high-profile MS employee writes about it: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/opinion/04brass.html
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
February 5th, 2010 at 11:45 am
A Microsoft SVP decided to leave last month after he had spoken to Ballmer, It doesn’t say what Ballmer did.
Needs Sunlight Reply:
February 5th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
It probably can’t be printed outside of certain sub-sub-sub-cultures within the grimier parts of the alt.* hierarchy of Usenet.
Dennis Murczak Reply:
February 5th, 2010 at 11:47 am
Oops, I see the article has already been mentionend in the followup post
Of course it is heavily biased but gives a bit insight into the structure of the company.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
February 5th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
There were similar articles from recent defectors like Keith Curtis and Don Dodge (and older ones like Niall Kennedy or Robert Scoble).
Needs Sunlight Reply:
February 5th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
If it’s a matter of toxic people and poisonous corporate culture, then it is better for everyone that they are all in one place rather than spreading out. As we see from what’s happened to Ubuntu’s Lucid Lynx, even a small number of Microsofters can really ruin things for the whole team.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
February 5th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
I suppose you’ve heard about a Mac fan becoming the Ubuntu COO (Canonical).
Dennis Murczak Reply:
February 5th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
It has repeatedly been the case that a project or company simply died because of exposure to Microsoft culture.
Having been involved in some relatively big-scale FOSS projects I know that things can, sorry, *will* go downhill rapidly if only one or two key persons in the hard core change their behavior to the worse. Let someone in who conflicts with the basic project principles or generally accepted practice. He will be considered an arse but kept in the team anyway because he gets work done, of which there is a lot.
Especially on projects with a deadline, he can prevent being kicked out by simply working hard, so he can continue poisoning the spirit of the project. Due to the others being pissed off, progress will increasingly feel like wading through molasses, and then there is that moment that feels like a container ship running onto a sandbank and leaking full of water. Last stop, baby!
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
February 5th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Microsoft has recently caused some unrest in SVG, Perl, Python, OSI, ODF, and even Apache. They promote the perception that those projects also work for Bill.
A reader from Jordan reminded me some days ago that Microsoft does the same thing to LUGs.