MSN Manager to Leave Microsoft
Microsoft has confirmed that a high-ranking manager in the MSN division has left the company in order to start his own business. Hadi Partovi, who was behind the MSN.com revisions and the Start.com portal, has left the company before to pursue personal projects, the Seattle Times first reported.
After the cooling off of the browser wars in the late 90s, Partovi left Microsoft in 1999 to start Tellme Networks, but then returned in 2002 to help Microsoft launch several new initiatives including MSN Music.
Partovi says that his decision to leave Microsoft has nothing to do with any kind of problem within MSN itself. Following the recent reorganization of Microsoft, the online divison now falls under the Windows division.
Partovi joines several other high-profile resignations at Microsoft over the past several months. Jim Allchin, head of the Windows division, announced his resignation at the same time the company reorganized. This was followed by the departure of Ward Cunningham, who is most commonly known for his work in creating community-editable Web pages called "wikis."
Another resignation has been rumored by infamous Microsoft blogger Mini-Microsoft. According to a post made on Monday, office architect Don Gagne plans to leave the Redmond company in December. However, Microsoft has given no confirmation on the rumor.
According to the Seattle Times, Partovi will stay with Microsoft until a replacement is found, and so he can finish several projects that he is "excited about."
Two of these projects are a redesign of the MSN.com front page and a new version of Start.com.