14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft employees are leaving Windows Live like rats deserting a sinking ship. And this, despite the Redmond company debuting in the summer the next phase in the evolution of the suite of products and services hosted in its operating system in the cloud. Windows Live received a redesign, and an overhaul at the level of offerings with new betas and a unified installed. The backbone of the platform, Windows Live was also revamped, a visual style on top of an under the hood tune-up. But while Microsoft has positioned all its resources, pouring effort and money into Windows Live, the people behind the project are deserting the company.
Erik Selberg from Live Search, Danny Thorpe from Windows Live Platform and Bubba Murarka from Windows Live all abandoned Microsoft in search for greener pastures. "Today is my last day as a Microsoft Employee. Tomorrow I start my next gig as a full time entrepreneur. For as long as I can remember I have had the aspiration to start a company (even after learning how difficult it was when I first tried in 2002 - we closed shop in 2003). The desire to start one again has been growing over the past few months and I decided to jump in head first two weeks ago," revealed Murarka.
Selberg revealed that he was leaving one of the top three search players on the market for a position at Amazon.com. Apparently, from Selberg's perspective, Amazon is far more efficient than Microsoft when it comes down to the basics of welcoming new additions to the company. His work with Amazon will still involve search, but of course will focus on item authority and matching.
"As I've been wrapping up our 2nd generation cross-domain in-browser communication channel API, I've been nosing around and thinking about what my next project should be. There's no shortage of tasks to do in Windows Live, and I had a few leads for interesting projects elsewhere within Microsoft as well. While I will be leaving the Microsoft payroll, I won't be leaving the Windows Live arena. I'm moving from the service producer to the service consumer side of the field. CoolIris will quickly need user logins, address books, photos, and storage, and I will certainly make sure they are aware of Windows Live's service offerings. We should definitely leverage rather than build out infrastructure," explained Thorpe.