Most of those people were those who worked under Steve Ballmer. Nadella in many ways wants a “fresh start” for Microsoft and putting in new people is important to changing the Microsoft culture.
Yep. There was a considerable "echo chamber" going at Microsoft for the past two decades, centered on Steve (and to a lesser extent, Bill). It's great to see it breaking up. Hopefully it's not too late to turn that giant ship around and get it going in a healthier direction.
Agreed. This is par for the course with most of corporate America. New head honcho comes in and he either fills positions with his friends/allies or promotes the best brown-nosers among the remaining middle-tier managers.
Nadella has done some great things with Microsoft up to this point. Let's see if this new strategy pays dividends.