News

Third Microsoft Exec Leaves; Departures 'Unrelated'

A Microsoft spokesperson said today that Rob Short, corporate vice president of Windows Core Technology, left the Redmond, Wash.-based company last month.

• By Becky Nagel
• January 16, 2008

This is the third high-level Microsoft departure to happen recently. Last week, both Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's Business division, and Bruce Jaffe, vice president of Corporate Development in charge of mergers and acquisitions, announced their pending retirements. Jaffe will be leaving next month and Raikes will retire in September.

Microsoft did not comment on the reasons Short left, but the spokesperson did say the timing of these departures is coincidental: "All of the executive departures that have been announced in recent months are unrelated and reflective of personal decisions to leave the company."

Microsoft did not formally announce Short's departure; All About Microsoft's Mary Jo Foley first reported his exit Monday. Sources told Foley that Short "has been on leave for the past year" and did not return.

"Rob made many contributions to Windows, including being part of the first Windows NT development team focused on advancing the PC architecture and the hardware/software interface," the spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement regarding Short's departure. "Most recently, Rob and his team were responsible for the design, development and testing of the core components of the Microsoft Windows operating system."

It's not just executives that are leaving; Foley notes that three other managers have left in the last month, including Charles Fitzgerald, general manager of Microsoft's Platform Strategy Group, and Sean O'Driscoll, general manager of Community Support Services. A list of everyone who's leaving and announced replacements can be found here.

Fitzgerald posted a blog entry about his last day on Monday; in it he said of his time at Redmond, "Microsoft was a phenomenal experience and I had the opportunity to work with an amazing array of people...I probably could have stayed at Microsoft for a long time, but ultimately decided it was time for a self-inflicted change." As for his future plans, he joked that he might just "bring lasting peace to the Middle East, explore space, mentor a few startups and clean out my garage."