Bonum Certa Men Certa

Another Microsoft Vice President Abandons the Company


Any more corporate vice presidents left to jump ship?



Summary: Enrique Rodriguez is the latest corporate vice president to leave Microsoft ”to pursue other interests” and Microsoft is already spinning the news, having previously hidden it

THE GREAT exodus of Microsoft managers continues in its destructive path that breeds disarray. Microsoft still announces these departures secretly (or lets them be known a long time after the actual departures, usually upon questioning). It is essentially hiding or sweeping bad news under the rug using those classic and shameless euphemisms like "reorganisation", which is what Microsoft and Novell typically call it when there is an en masse departure (exodus) leaving a management vacuum. The departure of Rodriguez is almost impossible to find, but it was bundled and lumped onto another blog post.

Earlier this week, Microsoft reorg’d the TV, Video and Media (TVM) group, which was headed by Corporate Vice President Enrique Rodriguez. Rodriquez has left the company (”decided to pursue other interests”).


Wow. Why didn't Microsoft announce this? At first it was unknown what would happen to Rodriguez, but Microsoft watcher Joseph Tartakoff eventually confirmed that he was leaving.

According to Tartakoff, "Last February, Microsoft split the Zune team along hardware and software lines, putting Zune software—like the ZunePass music subscription service—under Rodriguez, while placing the Zune hardware business under the auspices of a Windows Mobile executive."

“I don't think Microsoft can differentiate between truth and lie now...”
      --Goblin
It seems like Windows Mobile is indeed due to appear only next year [1, 2], as some recent rumours suggested. This is disastrous to Windows as Linux is already making huge gains. Microsoft responds to this by throwing FUD at mobile Linux (leading to backlash) because it's the only strategy Microsoft understands.

Microsoft basically chooses the Linux FUD that "choice is detrimental", which is a myth that has been debunked a lot, more recently even by Nokia (which champions Symbian and dominates the mobile market). We also found a couple of UK-based journalists who are typically hostile towards Linux (Kelly Fiveash is one of them) spreading the myth that only people are are paid to code will ever write Free software like Linux. It is important to watch how (and respond to) the Microsoft boosters try to spin good news about developers being paid to write GPL-licensed code as something that's bad news for Linux. It is rather amazing how dishonest one can be given the convictions and sometimes the incentives from Microsoft. The recipe for spinning good news as bad news (and vice versa) can also be seen above, as a departure of a vice president gets described as something positive, a "reorganisation".

"I think Microsoft has become so caught up in its own PR it actually believes everything it says," said our reader Goblin last night, adding: "I don't think Microsoft can differentiate between truth and lie now [...] and those MS employee's that know the truth, won't dare say it because they'll lose their jobs. [...] there was a chap who was left behind in WW1 and believed the war was still going on.....that's a little how Ballmer is, he is told what he wants to hear and the wibbly wobbly world he lives in is not the one everyone else is....that explains his bizarre behavior."

Our reader FurnaceBoy shrewdly said that "truth is sunlight to the Microsoft vampire" and Goblin then found this gem from the news:

Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg said in a recent interview:
We never intended to ever mislead people. [...]


Right. Of course.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

SLAPP Censorship - Part 22 Out of 200: When You Complain People Impersonate You in IRC (But You Yourself Impersonate People in IRC and Lock Them Out of Their IRC Handles)
We'll cover this with direct evidence some time soon
The Empty Suits of IBM Managers (NIH or "Nothing Invented Here")
IBM's management adopted the business model of parasites
Dr. Stallman’s Work Will Never be Considered 'Mainstream' Because He Rejects and Works Against the So-called 'Mainstream'
Try to be more like Stallman
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part IX - Cocaine Addicts in Charge of the EPO Attacking Families of EPO Staff
Things like being high-profile and being a serious drug addict aren't opposites
 
Links 25/03/2026: Airports Further Militarised, "Slopification and Its Discontents", Microsoft 'Open' 'Hey Hi' Shutting Things Down
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/03/2026: Blogging Fright and Absolutely Useless 'Apps' Made by Slop Machines
Links for the day
Rise in Energy Prices Will Significantly Accelerate the Death of So-called "AI Companies"
It should be noted that fake news about Microsoft OpenAI doubling workforce (mere words, not actions) can serve as a nice distraction from the death of Sora due to divestment
It's Always a Question of Trust
There's a widespread stigma of lawyers being manipulative and chronically dishonest
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Must More Carefully Investigate or Assess the Financial State of Law Firms in the UK
We'll cover this in depth in the future
GAFAM Mozilla Removes Theora Support, Now GNU Needs to Re-encode Videos
Mozilla used to mean something to Free software advocates
An Open Admission Profits Depend on Addiction
Proprietary software tends to be like this
IBM Americas President Ayman Antoun Comes to OpenText, Weeks Ahead the Mass Layoffs Begin
Is that what IBM will be good at?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 24, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Gemini Links 24/03/2026: Junk Drawer Time Capsule and Building Outside Alire
Links for the day
Not Much LLM Slop About "Linux" Lately, It Only Ever Comes From the Same Few Sites
As long as only few such sites use LLM slop we can skip and avoid them
Links 24/03/2026: "Epic Lays Off Over 1000 Employees" and US in Financial Trouble According to the Fed
Links for the day
The "Media" Does Not Only 'Miss' Mass Layoffs
"The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it"
2012: 'Secure' (Microsoft-Controlled) Boot Has Not (Yet) Been Made Obligatory. 2026: systemd Has Not Implemented Age Verification
should we stop calling "nazi" everyone we don't agree with?
More Threats (Including Physical Threats) Against Us Are a Dumb Move
It's like a "hit list" (targets list) and I shall keep the police duly informed
New Example of Pentagon in "Feminist" Clothing Inside Fake News of Publishers Paid to Promote Outsourcing to US ("Clown Computing") and American Slop
Google now pays money to promote Google as a friend of women
Hating Techrights is a Career
but is it good for civil society?
The New Layoffs: 'Silent Layoffs', 'Secret Layoffs', 'Quiet Layoffs', 'Passive Layoffs' 'Stealth Layoffs', and Unannounced Layoffs Disguised as Return-to-Office (RTO Mandates)
The US needs to revisit and fix the WARN Act
What Feminism in Science Means (Codes of Conduct Don't Tackle the Real Issues)
Universality matters, more so in a project or community that's said to build the "universal operating system" (Debian)
SLAPP Censorship - Part 21 Out of 200: It's About Behaviour Online, Not How Much Money From Shadowy Third Parties Gets Spent on Lawyers and Two Barristers
75+ KG of legal papers, 2 cases, 2 barristers (one hiding in the metadata) and maybe two law firms (also hiding in the metadata) against two modest people in Manchester seems disproportionate and vindicative
Links 24/03/2026: "Airports on ICE" and "Have You Paid Your “Intuit Tax”?"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/03/2026: Slop Interview and Why Slop Makes Lousy Code
Links for the day
Richard Stallman to Give Public Talk This Thursday at the University of Bologna (Italy)
Hardly the first time he speaks in Bologna
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 23, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, March 23, 2026
Gemini Links 23/03/2026: "Mandatory" Bad Things and Dangers of Perfection Aspirations
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 20 Out of 200: All Roads Lead to Rome and to GAFAM Funding
Now about 10% into this series
Last Week's EPO Strike Was the Biggest (Highest Participation Rate), Hours Ago General Assembly Discussed Next (Growing) Intensity of Strikes
Well done and well attended
Mass Layoffs at HashiCorp, IBM Hid Them
The media did not mention those layoffs
Microsoft Downgraded on Concerns (Lack of Growth) Amid Silent Layoffs in 2026
The press isn't functioning anymore
Links 23/03/2026: Gulf Water at Risk, Heatwave in Malaysia
Links for the day
Slop Means False, New Article by Cybershow
"We are living in a world that is rapidly divesting from reality."
Debianism election 2026 community poll created, everybody can vote
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/03/2026: "Shocking Peter Thiel Antichrist Lectures", Robert Mueller Remembered
Links for the day
The Scandal Bigger Than IBM/Red Hat Layoffs is the de Facto "Media Blackout" About Those Layoffs
So we have a media crisis, aside from the economic crises
Gemini Links 23/03/2026: Geminispace/Elpher Enhancement and the Cerberus Cinco
Links for the day
Fear is Not a Legitimate Factor
Smart people know that trying to prevent moral people from doing the "Right Thing" will backfire
Fuel Autonomy and What It Teaches Us About Software Autonomy (or Software Freedom)
Need we wait until a "software Pearl Harbor" or protect ourselves proactively by weaning ourselves off of GAFAMware?
Scheduled Maintenance This Coming Wednesday
Other than that, all is the same and we carry on as usual
Most Press Articles About IBM Are LLM Slop, Sometimes With Slop Images
IBM basically laid off almost 1,000 people last week [...] At the moment about 75% of the 'articles' we see about IBM (in recent days) are some kind of slop
Links 23/03/2026: Security Breaches, Energy Shortages, Another SRA Scandal, and Patents on Nature
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 22, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 22, 2026