Microsoft Fires Mac Fan For Blog Photo

[Admiral]

"Microsoft has fired a full-time temp employee after it discovered that the employee posted in his blog a photo and story concerning Microsoft's purchase of what looks to be around 18 G5s. Check out the blog entry, Even Microsoft wants G5s, and the one that follows it. Microsoft fired the blogger, despite an offer to take the posting down. Note that this is not a free speech issue, even though the blog was hosted on a non-company server, because Microsoft is not, yet, the government. But it does present several other interesting issues, including that of the trade-off between the bad publicity that comes from the firing and whatever bad results follow when employees feel free to post such things."

Slashdot

[Wombat]

I don't see why this is news? He took pictures AT WORK, to start with. That's a firable offense at just about any R&D place I've ever heard of, and will get you arrested and imprisoned if you do it at gov't labs.

[cjolley]

Originally posted by Wombat
I don't see why this is news? He took pictures AT WORK, to start with. That's a firable offense at just about any R&D place I've ever heard of, and will get you arrested and imprisoned if you do it at gov't labs.

Because it's Microsoft and that makes it evil.

chuck

[Jon P. Inghram]

And besides, it's not exactly news that Microsoft Office also runs on Mac's... how else are they supposed to test the software if they don't have Mac's to run it on?

[cjolley]

Originally posted by Jon P. Inghram
And besides, it's not exactly news that Microsoft Office also runs on Mac's... how else are they supposed to test the software if they don't have Mac's to run it on?

Test hell, how are they even supposed to write it?
chuck

[Jon P. Inghram]

Cross compilers?

[cjolley]

You can have that job, I don't want any part of it.
chuck

[Greebe]

Funny how this seems to have gotten attention when M$ has paid out ~$1.5 billion in antitrust suit from 9 states thus far.

[Gurm]

I don't get it. Everyone just wants an opportunity to trash Microsoft, but ... big companies don't let you take pictures on property and post them without getting it cleared by the powers-that-be. It's just that simple. It probably breached whatever employment contract he had signed.

Problem: "I took a picture of Macs on Microsoft property."
Fallacious Conclusion: "they must be firing me because they hate macs."
CORRECT concolusion: They're firing you because you took a picture ON MICROSOFT PROPERTY.

Duh.

- Gurm

[Jammrock]

Although I'm not a Mac fan, why is it so odd that M$ bought a bunch of G5's?

M$ makes a good deal of Mac software: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/

Since the G5 uses a new 64-bit architecture you would think M$ would buy some G5's to develop for it. That and I bet a lot of their graphic designers use Mac's.

Of course, I also find it lame that M$ fired the guy for showing the pictures online. It's not like he showed intellectual property online.

Jammrock

[Wombat]

Originally posted by Jammrock
Of course, I also find it lame that M$ fired the guy for showing the pictures online. It's not like he showed intellectual property online.

From what was said, it seems that they were at least as peeved that he talked about what they did in which buildings. Still, they probably have a corporate policy about cameras, and it's probably better that they don't selectively enforce it.

[Gurm]

Yup. Not enforcing it with THIS guy means that the next guy that takes pictures of monitors on which their next big secret project is being developed ... has precedent to say "they can't punish me".

- Gurm

[Goc]

Strangely, I agree with Gurm...

He agreed to the rules, he should've obeyed them.
Hey, I don't like Microsofts monopolistic moves they tend to pull every now and then just as much as the next guy, but that doesn't make me jump and bark on everything with MS written over it.

Guy screwed up, got fired, end of story. Yet, the fact that this even made it in the news is mildly disturbing.

[Gurm]

Yup. Microsoft has ALWAYS made Mac software. It's no astonishing surprise that they buy G5's to develop and test their products.

This ONLY made the news because everyone has to bash Microsoft for everything.

It's getting foolish. It's gotten to the point where Bill Gates can donate 100 million to charity, and it'll be written up as "Greedy Bill Gates tries to ease conscience".

- Gurm