It's (at least) the third major departure this week [1, 2].

It must be that time of year, because we have another Microsoft executive departure to report: Joe Peterson, a corporate vice president who has been involved in everything from Internet Explorer to MSN to Windows, is retiring after 13 years with the Redmond company.

When is Steve Ballmer leaving? According to this new report, Microsoft is likely to have "negative earnings".

As the year winds down, financial analysts are predicting that Microsoft will pre-announce negative earnings for the first time since 2000 because of a flat PC market.

As Tim Bray calls it, "tough times."⬆

"Idiots can be defeated but they never admit it."

--Richard Stallman