This article is more than 1 year old
Microsoft's 'We want a Mac look and feel' UK director splits after seven years
Had four years to rinse taste of foot from mouth
Microsoft has confirmed that long-serving director Simon Aldous has left the organisation with immediate effect.
The now ex-director of hosting says he has left to pursue new opportunities outside of the organisation, but if he has a job lined up he is keeping mum about it.
"After seven years I decided that I wanted to move on and like many other Microsoft employees, locally and globally, I decided that the best time to do this was at fiscal year end," he told us.
Aldous joined Microsoft in 2006 as director of SMB and distribution partners but three years later hit the headlines when he stated Microsoft was looking to "create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics" when designing Windows 7.
He survived this gaffe, despite the PR might of Redmond coming down heavily on him.
It is unusual for a well-known exec to depart with so few partners aware of the exit, but calls to a bunch of Microsoft's channel community over the last week revealed this to be the case.
A Microsoft spokesman said the company will not be making any further statement: "There isn't a story here, he just decided to move on to something else after seven years." ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
