Microsoft fires tester for speaking out about red rings

"The twist? Well, we're going to have to side with the giant corporation on this one."

So he is, like a BIG FUCKIN ASSHOLE or something? He deserved to be fired for telling the truth? that's real nice Joystiq,sounds like you are making a business decision here also...

Well, if by 'big fucking asshole' you mean he blatantly disregarded a contract he had signed, then yes. This thing wreaks of "I want my 15 minutes," because it's not like we didn't know the 360 could red-ring, so he wasn't really doing a public service or anything. He chose not to be anonymous simply because he wanted to be known. Breaking contracts for the public good is one thing, but breaking contracts (no matter what you think of them, since you signed them originally) because you want you're name out there makes you a 'big fucking asshole.' I feel no sympathy for this guy, especially since even he knew it was coming.

Well, if by 'big fucking asshole' you mean he blatantly disregarded a contract he had signed, then yes. This thing wreaks of "I want my 15 minutes," because it's not like we didn't know the 360 could red-ring, so he wasn't really doing a public service or anything. He chose not to be anonymous simply because he wanted to be known. Breaking contracts for the public good is one thing, but breaking contracts (no matter what you think of them, since you signed them originally) because you want you're name out there makes you a 'big fucking asshole.' I feel no sympathy for this guy, especially since even he knew it was coming.

@Ridgecity

"He deserved to be fired for telling the truth?"

Yes. He's not a big asshole though. He's a big bonehead. He was beholden to an agreement that he violated the terms of resulting in his termination. It's not exactly a conspiracy theory, and Joystiq is not in on it.

Damn itchy mouse finger! Though, I am now thoroughly confused how both of them got through (I'd think that the second click would have re-initiated the submit request)?

"He deserved to be fired for telling the truth?"

Yes Virginia, sadly he did deserve to get fired for telling the truth. As Joystiq already commented, while the exact causes are still hidden, the corporation has acknowledged the problem and offered a remedy. I don't like how long it took Microsoft to come to that pass, but part of being entrusted with corporate secrets is to keep them secret.

Any person has a moral right to resist something they believe to be wrong. But here's the second part that a lot of folks miss: Accepting the consequences of defiance. He's legally in the wrong and knew it. He might have counted on reprimand rather than dismissal, but he still knew what he was doing.

It's a bitch, but what would you expect Mirosoft or his company to do? I'd be interested to know if he tried anything within the rules before jumping to the press.

@ridgecity:

It's called an NDA, and I'm sure Microsoft had him sign one...look it up.

First rule of being a tester is,


YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT BEING A TESTER!!

ooooh...living dangerously...here comes the ban-copter.

fap-fap-fap-fAP-FAP-FAP

Sony fanboy calling Joystiq biased?!?

SHOCKING.

they just applied for a position a few days ago. would you piss off a potential employer by siding with a guy they just fired?

"Sony fanboy calling Joystiq biased?!?

SHOCKING."

Deaftly defending 'stiq's bias once again?!

MEGASHOCKING.

FAP-FAP-FAP-FAP-FAP

Stop fapping... this is a family friendly blog.

It is rather disturbing that the onomatopoeia for a helicopter is the same as the onomatopoeia for jacking off

I would try to use "Whup-Whup-Whup" instead, but I'm sure something dirty would come of that as well.

I'm taking FAP back.

Shag, every time you bring out this out this analogy, somebody point this out. Just beat it.

He IS beating it, what with all the fapping!

Isn't it funny that a helicopter is also actually a sexual act?

i always liked whumpa-whumpa-whumpa-whumpa. i forget how it's done in comics though

Jakka(Free Mr.ESC!): "Shag...Just beat it."

LOL!

Microsoft jumped the gun because Sony flinched on the starting line. They wanted (needed, remember how much they were losing on every Xbox they sold) to get out of the gate first, and Sony claimed they were on target for a November launch. Unfortunately, Sony didn't say WHICH November.

"“If you coordinated the music player with the dashboard, you could get almost every 360 to lock up,” he said in an interview. “I did it first on a combo DVD/audio disk. With NBA 2K6, you would select the music. The screen went black.”"

Thats pretty much the entirity of his comments in the article. HOW THE FUCK does that deserve sacking.

The guy was a tester, it was his job to find things wrong with the console. He found them, reported them, they ignored him.
He comments on it on some website and now hes out of work, along with 25000 other people today, in the worst job market of all time.
How can any fucker say he deserves it, you're all console Nazi's.
"He defied the fuehrer, execute him!"

yea and he also signd a nda contract dipshit, which means he violated his contract, it doesnt matter for what reason

"in the worst job market of all time."

Not at all. You really need to put things into perspective.

@ JoeTheBlow:

Okay, you can argue this all you want and you can moan all about how your sorry the guy got fired... but then he shouldn't have signed a contract if he didn't know what it was.

He signed an NDA and put himself in MS's hands and you expect MS not to exercise their rights? If MS doesn't enforce their policies and make an example of someone every employee will be spewing their crap all over the internets and tabloids.

So all I have to say to you sir, is: You can blow it out your ass.

Actually, what this guy did was confirm that an RROD could be replicated, on every machine, buy taking one particular action:

"He found a bug that could cause a reproducible crash on every game he tested. ... The NBA 2K6 flaw resulted in the Red Rings of Death."

Maybe I missed this being reported earlier? Had it ever been confirmed before now that an RROD was able to be reproduced?

If this confirmation of reproducibility is new, then it actually is whistle-blower level information, as it always appeared to be a crap-shot about whether or not your machine red-ringed. This helps validate the stories of people having multiple machines RROD on them. If there are multiple errors (which he indicates there are), that can force a red-ring, then it does in fact make it likely that some people will crash multiple consoles. If you have a particular game you like, and it can create one of these errors, it seems likely that you are going to end up RRODing multiple machines because you don't know what the root cause is and you initially assume your repaired machine will be immune from an RROD.

Did MS have the right to fire him? Absolutely. But, gamers curious about the full story behind the RROD mess should be thankful for another piece of the puzzle. If I'm wrong, and the reporting of reproducibility is old news, please vote me down and provide a link.

How long you been waiting to use the word "verisimilitude" on one of these posts? ;)

You'd side with Microsoft even if they'd kicked you in the nuts. Come on, how many of you read the contracts you get from work...thoroughly? Also how many off you read through all of the User/License agreement when you sign up to something? I wouldn't and don't think he did neither

It doesn't matter. He said himself that this will probably get him fired. So he must have had some clue as to wtf was in his contract.

And it still doesn't matter whether he read it or not. Once he signed it, it's a done deal. You can't sign it and then once you get called on some shit that you did, say oh well, I didn't know. If you knew next to anything regarding legality of contracts, you would know that ignorance would get you shit all. It's called taking responsibility for your actions. Maybe you'll learn about it once you get out of mommy's basement, and I'm sure it will be a VERY hard lessons for the likes of you.

[I've been banned for being rude.]

You guys don't know what you're talking about. I'm 100% sure that when this guy signed on as a contractor, he signed a CONTRACT that said "You are not allowed to talk to the media about Microsoft's business". It's incredibly standard, and anyone doing anything similar at any other company would also get fired.

You're breaking a contract. He's not a whistleblower, Microsoft hasn't been doing anything illegal nor asked him to do anything illegal. Shipping a shoddy product is not illegal. Therefore Microsoft can fire him all they want.

And this is from a Sony fanboy.

So who's the true idiot here, the writer believed to be an idiot, or the person who believes they're an idiot and continues to read what they write?

Nate is right. I'm pretty sure every corporation forbids representing the company to the media without the consent of the company. It's part of the terms of employment. That's what PR staff is for. NDA does not even have to come into play on something like this. If you're not in PR or in upper management, you can't speak about company business to the outside world, period.

Dracula Jones,

That is not true.

We still have Freedom of Speech in the USA. Companies can not fire you for speaking about the company on your own dime. They may fake some other reason to fire you (non-performance, disclosure of trade secrets, etc) but can not fire you for speaking. The contract employee was not a MS employee (he was employed by an agency)and could not be speaking "for" MS. This is why we have Labor Rights Attorneys. We are not a completely Fascist state, yet.

God, I soooo didn't want to wade in here, but that last comment was just too ignorant to ignore it.

Freedom of Speech is a right provided to Americans that allows them to say what they want without fearing punishment from the government.

Practically any contract you sign includes clauses about speaking out publicly against the company. And as Delaware was actually employed by a temp agency, he was likely an "at will" employee, meaning he could be fired at anytime for any reason.

Justin McElroy,

"last comment was just too ignorant to ignore it" - please detail.

Contract? You can write whatever you want into a contract. It does not make it legal or enforceable. Most employees do not have the financial depth to take on an agency or MS in a Labor dispute.

If you are talking 'bout the hard realities of a laborer in BushAmerica (TM), then, anything goes (against the laborer). But, if you are talking about our inalienable rights our Constitution demands, you can't tell me what I can say.

You can lay down like a lamb or speak out for your rights.

@Seedee Vee

You're missing the point. This has nothing to do with the Constitution. Delaware may be free to say what he wants, but he's not free from all repercussions. In this case, he got fired. Do you actually believe you have a legal right to say anything you want about your employer without any repercussions?