back to article Microsoft's 'We want a Mac look and feel' UK director splits after seven years

Microsoft has confirmed that long-serving director Simon Aldous has left the organisation with immediate effect. The now ex-director of hosting says he has left to pursue new opportunities outside of the organisation, but if he has a job lined up he is keeping mum about it. "After seven years I decided that I wanted to move …

COMMENTS

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  1. Paul Shirley

    " I decided that the best time to do this was at fiscal year end,"

    Translation:" I decided that the best time to do this was just before a company wide reorganisation kicked me out"

    If the upcoming reorganisation doesn't kick out a large proportion of parasitic managers they might as well not bother. The ones with a less than spotless past will be 'considering their options' right now.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      hmmmm....

      If they were going to kick him out then a nice fat Redundancy payoff would have been winging its way towards him. He probably has a position lined up with another company, possibly a competitor?

  2. Tapeador

    Can I just say

    I use the "Windows 95" interface option in Windows 7's settings. As far as I am concerned Apple can fuck off and die. Obviously as far as everyone else is concerned Apple is the new Jehovah. But I can't think of a better reason to despise it.

    1. Alex Rose

      Re: Can I just say

      All I did was say to my wife, "That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah!".

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Can I just say

      You can't think of a better reason to despise Apple than the fact that everyone likes it?

      I've got bad news for you: Most people like sex, too, so you're going to have to make some sacrifices if you want to be consistent.

      1. Spoonsinger

        Re: You can't think of a better reason to despise Apple than the fact that everyone likes it?

        Erm, well he/she doesn't like it, so that's not everyone.

      2. Tapeador

        @ David W Re: Can I just say

        To my mind half the point of paying big money for a luxury good is to emphasise one's identity. At my law school, the lecture theatre is a sea of Macbook Airs, with some Pros chucked in. I know they're good hardware. But when *almost everybody* buys into the "I've bought an expensive creative tool and I'm therefore more unique and individual" then that almost everybody has actually divested him/herself, in equal measure, of the very individuality whose increase was sought. That's a fashion thing.

        Incidentally OSX doesn't run the Dragon Naturallyspeaking software I need in order to function as an ordinary human being (massive RSI) and I returned my iPad because Apple wouldn't allow Swype install, making the tablet unusable for me. So a disutility for the disabled user on the one hand and a contempt for him on the other.

        Aesthetics and utility are not coterminous, contrary to dogma doing the rounds.

    3. Daniel B.
      Facepalm

      Re: Can I just say @Tapeador

      I use the "Windows 95" interface option in Windows 7's settings. As far as I am concerned Apple can fuck off and die.

      Yet the Windows 95 interface was mostly a [MacOS] System 7 ripoff. In fact, it is probably what made it friendlier. Sure, there are things for which Apple has earned the hatedom of a lot of people, but the interface isn't one of them.

      1. Tapeador

        Re: Can I just say @Tapeador

        I suppose OSX interfaces might not be intrinsically hateworth, but iTunes and iOS most certainly is: replacing perfectly good text menus within apps with hip icons which obscure rather than reveal; I can think of little more inane and infuriating.

    4. fearnothing

      Re: Can I just say

      For its interface? Seriously? You can't think of a better reason to hate it?

      In a nod to irony, I used to work for them, and I'm typing this on a mac. Go figure.

  3. Martin Saunders

    Which partners didn't know?

    I'm not sure who The Register called, but Simon departing was well know amongst the MS hosting partners that were a reasonable size and hence had reason to know and work with Simon.

    He's a very good guy and bought humility and pragmatism to an otherwise rather 'robotic' organisation. Pity to see him move on.

  4. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Coat

    "I decided that the best time to do this was at fiscal year end"

    Yeah, because employees always make their career decisions in the best interest of their employers.

    Excuse me if I hold my nose while going out.

  5. The Godfather
    Megaphone

    press-speak

    When companies say there isn't a story......there generally is.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It should be obvious

    Microsucks is slowly killing itself and it's better to jump ship now before the deck is below water.

  7. Duffaboy

    He has gone to work for

    APPLE...

    1. Robert Forsyth

      Re: He has gone to work for

      One could predict:

      Microsoft will move into Apple like devices, meanwhile Apple will move to servers and server OS (enhancements) with their new found 64 bit ARM.

  8. PeterFV

    He at leat acknowledged Apple's design leadership ...

    ... but left without ever realising why Apple is so much better. It's called usability and MS lacks the patience (and corporate ethos) to do it right.

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