RSSPublic face of Windows Vista leaves Microsoft
By Nate Mook | Published April 3, 2008, 8:31 PM
The man who became the public face for Windows Vista -- and often bore the brunt of criticism directed at the OS -- through blog posts and community events has resigned from Microsoft.
Nick White is leaving the Redmond company to take a position at BuzzCorps, a blog-oriented viral marketing company founded by former AMD communications manager Chris Aarons. White has worked with Aarons in the past on marketing efforts for Windows Vista.
Aarons was one of the few public relations heads who took a different approach to marketing by reaching out to and embracing smaller publications like blogs. He focused on building a conversation with consumers, rather than pitching them, and in turn, was highly respected in the industry.
Appropriately, White announced his departure in a blog post this week. "It's a bit deflating to know that this constitutes my last post to the Windows Vista Team blog. But by the same token, I'm thrilled, amazed and humbled at the success that this blog has become," he wrote.
"Our aim has always been to share the Windows story in an open and approachable manner. Given the role we play today as a community resource, I'd wager that we're doing pretty well in that regard."
White didn't provide any specific reasoning for his decision, but his job was never easy. He arrived just as Microsoft was beginning to embrace transparency, and fought tooth and nail to convince the company to open up and bridge the growing gap between Microsoft and its disillusioned constituency before and after the launch of Windows Vista.
Because he was the individual whose picture was on the Windows Vista team blog and the only conduit to those building the new operating system, White faced a constant barrage of requests, complaints and general criticism. Nevertheless, he always handled himself with aplomb, and worked hard to respond to all comments and direct them to the appropriate place.
It's not clear how much transparency will remain without White, who helped convince Microsoft to finally break its silence about Vista Service Pack 1, and publicly admit delays due to driver problems caused by the long-awaited update.
White says his colleague Christopher Flores, a director on the Windows Communications team, will take over his role. "Christopher has been with Microsoft for many years and will draw on a wealth of experience in his efforts to bring you the Windows story."
You people are absolutely hilarious. Making theories of "why would he leave now". It's ALWAYS the same reason: MORE money
And if he has enough (more than he can sanely burn on wasteful stuff) then it's THE CHALLENGE of doing something new, sometimes because, back to #1 reason, he expects a decent chance of making MUCH MORE MONEY than he can ever make at MS (so why not give it a shot). Plus he may have serious disagreements with his bosses.
At a big company you always have a lot of stupid bosses, and a hell of a lot of smart people who constantly save their bosses' asses, until they get promoted or leave.
It's a known principle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle
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|The turnover rate at MS seems to be either picking up pace or getting more attention. Either way, it seems odd for a company that has posted good numbers. I thought I'd post something different from the usual "I love my Vista" stuff. I do love my Vista though. :)
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|I love my vista ultimate! :o) Since day one. I had no real problems in the first place and SP1 made no major differences for me.
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|White did a fantastic job with Vista. Nay sayers can say what they wish about Vista and anything White did, but most of them would wither under the criticism he handled so well. He is leaving Microsoft at a high point in his career and he will have no difficulty whatsoever finding employment elsewhere.
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|SP1 has fixed all my gripes. I wonder why he is leaving.
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|Is it just me, but I like Vista. I did an upgrade and it went well. I like the OS and it seems to run fine for me. I think it's better than XP, but that's just for me. I haven't installed SP1 yet, but I will get around to it when I am bored of WoW. Oh well, just wanted to say it's not all that bad for me.
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|A lot of people like Vista. But negative comments are always the most vocal :)
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|I love Vista! SP-1 didnt do anything that I can tell. This is a fantastic upgrade over XP. I feel stupid for listening to the Vista sucks lies and waited a year for nothing. My guess is Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with Vista Basic and caused a PR nightmare. I am really excited about the future of Vista on my pc.
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|i agree, i love vista way more than XP, install of SP1 for me went very smooth
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|hahahahaha @ madmike I couldn't have said it better myself lol
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|He probably left due to 2 things, firstly that Vista was awful, and secondly fed up getting emails telling him how bad it really is
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|Why would he leave now, when it's getting better, what with SP1?
That's a silly thing to say.
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|Yes, what you said about SP1 making Vista better is silly.
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|Better. Not best, not great, not wonderful.
Better.
If he wanted to leave for that reason he would have done it a couple of weeks after Vista launched.
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|You can put icing and sprinkles on crap but it is still crap.
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