Microsoft announces sudden departure of Windows Live exec

Microsoft announces sudden departure of Windows Live exec

Microsoft Corp. announced that Martin Taylor, a vice president of marketing for Windows Live and MSN has been allowed to leave the company after a career spanning 13 years. Mr Taylor, who was appointed as the Live initiative leader only in March has left under mysterious circumstances, but Redmond did not offer any explanations.

"We've made the difficult decision to part ways with Martin, but we don't comment on personnel matters," Microsoft said in a statement. "We appreciate Martin's contributions at Microsoft over the past thirteen years." Taylor was slated to address the media on the release of Windows Live Messenger, a huge offering from Redmond, which includes a suite of about 20 consumer-focused products. This is Redmond's vehicle that is to compete head-to-head with Google and Yahoo in various segments. But Taylor's interviews were inexplicably cancelled.

Analysts say that Taylor's departure is both sudden as well as unexpected. "This is not a normal type of exit," said Rob Horwitz, CEO of Directions on Microsoft, an analysis firm. "... [This] is pretty odd to have someone center stage in press releases and stuff one day and removed from the Web site the next day." Also e-mails sent to Taylor on his Microsoft address were bouncing back and calls were unreturned.

Taylor was also the spearhead of the "Get the Facts" campaign, which was Redmond's response to Linux and open-source. He impressed company CEO Steve Ballmer a lot and was given the responsibility of battling Linux. Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox said that Taylor's departure was a big blow to Microsoft.

"He would have had important responsibilities for marketing some of the new Windows Live Services, and also competitively dealing with Google, again from a marketing perspective," he added. "Most certainly, it's a blow when any company loses a veteran executive. But, as much as I hate to admit it, anyone can be replaced. [It] isn't like Microsoft has a shortage of talent."