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

Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 13, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, July 13, 2026
Modern Technology Harms Women More Than Men (Because the 'Tech Bros' Who Dominate STEM Have a Poor View of Women)
“Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance.”
Internet Relay Chat Trolls Are Not Expressing Opinions, They Are Saboteurs
For the record
Links 14/07/2026: "The Freedom of Information Act Is in Serious Trouble"; Irish Datacenters Use Up Almost 25% of Total Energy
Links for the day
The Register MS: "AI" Puff Pieces for Sale, Not Journalism at All, Just "Webspam"
The Register MS isn't the sole culprit
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 12, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, July 12, 2026
How We Do Techrights (and What's Changing Next Week)
Many former news sites no longer yield much non-meaningless news (not anymore); there's a gap to be filled
Links 12/07/2026: Palantir Unrest and Wireshark 4.6.7
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2026: New Instrument Time and PalmOS Experiences in 2026
Links for the day
Red Hat Staff Says IBM Policy Has Stigmatised Him as a Tool and a Slopper With Plagiarism Tools
IBM is killing Red Hat with slop
Freedom of Choice or Freedom Versus Choice (or When All Choices Are Incompatible With Freedom)
When some business asserts that it gives people different options, then it can rightly argue that it offers some choices, but that is not the same as freedom
Techrights IRC Turns 5 Without a “Code of Conduct”, “Code of Conduct Committee”, and All Those Bureaucratic Nightmares
18+ years if one counts our time in Freenode as well
Why U No Use AI???
Many hype waves come and go
There Are Still Slopfarms in Google News
Google is trying to participate in if not lead this pyramid scheme
The Cyber Show Explains How Slop and Promotion of Slop is About Taking Control Away From Computer Users
"On making a trustworthy machine"
Keeping Available the Site at All Times
Informal arrangements and crowdfunding keep our work available despite resistance (including from people who break the law)
What If "Era of AI" and "AI Revolution" (Fake News) Never Happened?
So how much longer before the bust (or bubble-burst)?
GNU/Linux Approaches 5% in Australia
5% by year's end?
Europe/EU is Moving Towards Independence, Fast to Adopt Free Software
More and more states (governments, public sector) in Germany are dumping Microsoft
GNU/Linux Grows at the Expense of Windows
People who want to get work done already left Windows
Tux Machines Growing as a Volunteers-Run Site
Historically the site did not have many original stories, but this changed as the audience grew and the site gained more recognition
Links 12/07/2026: European Commission Versus ‘Addictive Design’, "Google Loses Final Appeal Over $4.7 Billion EU Android Antitrust Fine"
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Market Share Increases Some More Today, statCounter Measures It at 7.3%
Will more such thresholds and records be broken?
Gemini Links 12/07/2026: Studying Languages and 2026 Old Computer Challenge (OCC)
Links for the day
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part XIII - At the EPO, Cocaine Addicts and Their Friends Are "Protected Class"
What does that tell us about the EPO?
Increasing Output by Focusing on Originals
It's probably more important to carry on with these than it is to keep abreast of non-crucial news
Amid Strikes and Industrial Actions, Young Professionals at the European Patent Office (EPO) Kept on 'Short Leash', According to the Local Staff Committee The Hague
Issues affecting Young Professionals
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 11, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, July 11, 2026