Summary: Another AZune executive calls it quits, but there may be more to the story as companies sue over departing employees or use them as weapons (moles) against competitors

APOCALYPSE at Microsoft resumes. Although we have missed some dead products from Microsoft (it is hard to keep track when there are no official announcements or confirmations sometimes), we have kept good track of the many high-level departures, going back to 2009. Just months after Ozzie left Microsoft (focus on AZune) and moved to GNU/Linux/Free software in his blog [1, 2, 3, 4], an old colleague, Amitabh Srivastava, is also leaving:

The company also announced the departure of Amitabh Srivastava, a senior vice president in the Server & Tools Business and one of the key figures behind the Windows Azure cloud computing platform.

[...]

Ballmer didn't give a specific reason for Srivastava's departure. The longtime Microsoft engineer had been mentioned as a possible candidate for the top Server & Tools job. He had started the Azure initiative in 2006 with Microsoft's Dave Cutler under the name "Project Red Dog."

Watch Ballmer's response because the last time we heard Ballmer making a statement like the following, he 'sent' Elop to take over Nokia:

"Windows Azure is in a great place, and Amitabh is ready to move to a new phase in his career," Ballmer wrote in his email. "He has done stellar work for the company and will work to ensure a smooth transition with the Windows Azure team. I wish him well in his new endeavors."

There will hopefully be no story of Srivastava entryism because that's how the Elop story started as well (similar words from Ballmer). It is now being said that Elopocalypse will have Elop sued (he is one of the biggest shareholders of Microsoft, with no shares in Nokia) and regarding another exit from Microsoft, Microsoft is suing him after he had left and this is still in the news (update on the case):

Microsoft is claiming a CRM executive who defected to Salesforce.com took hundreds sensitive documents to its cloudy competitor.

The company has filed legal documents saying former Dynamics CRM general manager Matt Miszewski left Microsoft with a "trove of materials" on his PC.

Former Microsoft bigwigs need to be tracked because they tend to take something with them. It's just a fact of life. People cannot change overnight. ⬆