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Report: Another Windows Exec Exits

All About Microsoft's Mary Jo Foley reported Monday that William Poole, one of the Windows executives who oversaw the development of Vista, has left the company.

Poole's most recent position at Microsoft was a co-corporate vice president for Unlimited Potential, a division of Microsoft focused on promoting technology and computer skills in emerging markets, but prior to that he was a senior vice president for the Windows Client division when the company was developing Vista.

In her original post, Foley cited two unnamed sources who stated that Poole had retired. Late Monday, Microsoft confirmed to Foley that Poole "left to pursue philanthropic and entrepreneurial interests." Microsoft also told Foley that Anoop Gupta will be Poole's replacement, and the entire division will be moved under Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie (which Foley accurately predicted).

Microsoft has had several high-profile executives depart in the past few months, including Vice President of Corporate Development Bruce Jaffe and Corporate Vice President of Windows Core Technology Rob Short.

In January, Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft Business Division, announced he would retire in 2009 and, of course, Chairman Bill Gates is scheduled to retire in July.

About the Author

Becky Nagel is the vice president of Web & Digital Strategy for 1105's Enterprise Computing and Education Groups, where she oversees the front-end Web team and deals with all aspects of digital strategy for the groups. She also serves as executive editor the ECG Web sites, and you'll even find her byline on PureAI.com, the ECG group's newest site for enterprise developers working with AI. She recently gave a talk at a leading technical publishers conference about how changes in Web technology may impact publishers' bottom lines. Follow her on twitter @beckynagel.