There was not an immediate sign of Microsoft creative director Adam Orth being punished for the storm of bad press his comments on Twitter about always-online requirements caused. It appears now as if that lack of information may simply have been a delayed action, rather than a forgiving decision.
Sources inside Microsoft apparently have confirmed that he is no longer with the company. Whether he resigned on his own or was asked to leave is not known, and the computing giant has refused to comment, in this case entirely understandably. To quote, “We do not comment on private personnel matters…”
This is something people in the industry and people who simply enjoy its labors both need to take notice of. Both sides of this bear mention. On the one hand, Orth’s Twitter trolling caused a huge wave of criticism for Microsoft. It takes a lot of hearsay and bad press to get them to make a formal statement in regards to a single person’s personal comments. On the other hand, it now looks as though someone lost a very good job because of those comments.
Bad PR is serious business, people. Watch what you say, for your own sake as well as your company’s.
