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Robert Delaware faces Microsoft's wrath for coming forward


According to a follow up article on VentureBeat, Microsoft fired Robert Delaware a game test contractor who talked to Dean Takahashi about the Xbox 360 "Red Ring of Death" issue. In a recent article, Dean Takahashi of VentureBeat wrote about the chronological series of events that led to the hardware failures faced by the Xbox 360. Often called the “Red Ring of Death”, it is a condition that describes when three flashing red lights light up the front of an Xbox 360 indicating hardware failure.

Delaware spoke with Takahashi without permission and Microsoft fired him on Wednesday. Delaware worked as a game tester at Microsoft but was employed by the temp agency Excell Data. He reported directly to a Microsoft manager, who told him he was being let go specifically because of the VentureBeat article.

Delaware is expecting to face civil charges from his former employer VMC (which tests games for Microsoft) and Microsoft as well. Delaware is planning to fight any future lawsuits. “I don’t regret it,” he said in a phone call on Thursday. “I’ll fight it. If they want to come after me, bring it on.” An HR representative for Excell Data was the one who told him that he would likely face legal trouble.

Delaware learned about problems with the hardware while working as a game tester for VMC. He worked there from 2005 to the fall of 2007. He left to join a start-up, Whrrl, and then returned to the game testing job at Excell.

Legally, Delaware broke company policy and it is Microsoft’s right to fire him. He was aware of the implications of talking on the record with Takahashi. Takahashi feels the firing was wasted energy as Delaware would be more useful hunting down bugs and fixing problems for Microsoft.

Source