Was Sinofsky fired for Microsoft's sins?

I have a great deal of respect for SJVN and on this matter he has confirmed something I thought to myself about a day or so ago when I first read the headlines on Sinofsky's departure. It's just my perception, and of course, I could be so wrong, but when I drifted through a big computer chain store a day or two ago, and saw laptops and desktops all exhibiting the tiled interface of Win8, it really was a "turn off", not a "turn on". But that's my take of course and we are all different.

2c :-)

I agree, partially. Not fully on SJVN's rep.,... as he tends to inflame debates (granted, his job is to generate clicks),... Although, he certainly has his occasional points.

Moreover, I believe that in this particular case, he's right. I believe the combination of Sinofsky's failure to be a an MS team player (although, I might question what that means, philosophically), and the failure of Win8 to take off, market-wise,... Doomed him to marginalization within the organization.

Regardless of where you are or what you are doing, many hirings and firings tend to be partially political. many of them are survival maneuvers. Scapegoats often pay the price for someone above them screwing something up and more often than I'd like to report, many scapegoat firings are nothing but 6 year old sandbox plays, pointing the finger and blaming the next youngest kid for the transgression.

Personally, I think any jingo block you can use to pull down the whole organization is good as long as it's Microsoft. I'm sorry the man lost his job but keep it real, his GP padded his landing nicely I would bet. Much more than any of us would have, should we be let go like that.

I've been lucky enough to share a dram with Steven on occasion so I have the physical experience to measure against when I read his work, and yeah....he's paid to encourage clicks. You have to admit though, rarely has anyone been able to evoke the absolute vitriol in the comments as he has.

Wow! I saw something at the bottom of that page that REALLY caught my attention.

It's a link to a story labeled "How Microsoft's Surface just might kill the iPad"

The story's crap, but the image at the top of the page!

Put sharp corners like that on a Surface tab, which tends towards the heavy side to begin with, and you must might kill an iPad or two.

@hekios: Oh, I've had my share of vitriol. All I have to do is write ANYTHING dealing with gender or sexism in IT. Indeed, any writer who dares raise that subject to say anything other tha "all is well" (when it is anything but) paints a huge target on their backs.

I wonder how many death threat SJVN receives. I'm still at one, which was enough for me.

What amazed me Helios, after I had taken another look at the story is the sheer intensity of the vitriol in the comments under SJVN's article. I shouldn't be I suppose. ZDNet is, in my opinion, merely a site for "dyed in the wool" Windows fanboys to wave their love of Windows and scream their hatred of FOSS and all its ways. I used to comment on that site - but haven't for the past four years, once I realised the site's bias. I found that if you expressed an opinion that in any way favoured Linux, you were instantly mass attacked.

What does surprise me though, is that SJVN continues to write those articles knowing full well he's going to get clobbered by unthinking, brainwashed, Windows fanatics. Still, "somebody gotta do it".

@ridcully --

Why do you think getting "clobbered" is a problem? He's getting paid and nobody's punching him in the face.

It can actually be kind of fun under those circumstances.

@Ridcully: What you said. I also gave up on commenting there long ago. Windows is a religion on that website.

@dinotrac: I can't speak for SJVM. Receiving a paycheck is always nice. I can't imaging being under constant attack being "kind of fun".

Cait, I am at two, but they were from, ahem....the same person, so it looks like we are tied. ;-{)

Ken, I hope you informed the proper authorities each time.

Never say anything bad about M$, unless you want attention of the negative kind that is..

@Dinotrac......"It can actually be kind of fun under those circumstances." I guess so. As a Bush Kid (Australian phrase meaning I grew up in fairly rough country side away from cities) I used to take an "evil delight" in sneaking up on a bull-ants nest, kicking the top off it, and running like blazes away from the thing before those inch long ants could sting me. And could they ever sting - they've been responsible for at least one death I am aware of.

However, it strikes me that SJVN is taking similar "foot action" with the "nest of Winfans" on that site - but I suspect that he has mentally insulated himself from attack because he KNOWS he is going to cause a ruckus. I also suspect he has the faint hope that at least one of the unwashed masses on that site might start to think independently of Redmond. And as you noted: he gets paid to do it. He could even have an evil grin or two as he posts an article like the above.

There was a time (roughly mid 1990's to mid 2000's) when the comments section to SJVN's Linux articles on ZDNet were interesting and even actually informative.

Nowadays though, not even the most committed Linux/FOSS fans can be bothered to do more than look in very occasionally. But the really, really, really committed Windows-fans still comment on his columns quite religiously, each and every time one of his columns hit the presses -- not that these fanbois ever say anything remotely new (nor, for the most part, even anything remotely well-informed).