An outspoken Microsoft employee is now just an outspoken citizen after a sudden resignation.

Former creative director at Microsoft Adam Orth has resigned today in the wake of one of the most annoying Twitter rants in the history of the social networking site.

After rumours hit the internet that the next Xbox console would require a constant internet connection to work, many tweeted their displeasure at the idea – Orth responded in pretty harsh fashion.

“Those people should definitely get with the times and get the internet. It's awesome,” was his first response to the criticism of the always-online console.

“I want every device to be ‘always on'”, he added.

When people continued to voice their opinions, he clarified his viewpoint. “Sorry, I don't get the drama around having an ‘always on' console. Every device now is ‘always on'. That's the world we live in.” He finished that tweet with a #dealwithit. People began to get irritable.

“Did you learn nothing from Diablo III or SimCity?” tweeted a dissenter. “You know some people's internet goes out right? Deal with it is a shitty reason.

“Electricity goes out too,” replied Orth coolly.

“You've lived in LA, SF, Seattle...very connected places. Try living in Janesville, WI or Blacksburg, VA,” argued our dissenter, who I very much see as the hero of the piece a la Clint Eastwood or Sly Stallone, minus the wrinkles and slurring.

“Why on earth would I live there?” replied Orth, forever cementing himself in the internet's most hated list.

Since that little display on Twitter, Orth's resignation has been processed and calls to the Microsoft switchboard do not direct you to his office.

Perhaps Microsoft has realised the ‘deal with it' approach is one that people get annoyed about; who knew?

“We apologise for the inappropriate comments made by an employee on Twitter yesterday,” reads Microsoft's statement.

“This person is not a spokesperson for Microsoft, and his personal views do not reflect the customer centric approach we take to our products or how we would communicate directly with our loyal consumers.

"We are very sorry if this offended anyone, however we have not made any announcements about our product roadmap, and have no further comment on this matter.

Pretty non-committal, really. What do you guys think of Microsoft's approach, and of the original tweets? Let us know in the comments.