Exodus from Microsoft starts

THERE SEEMS to be a bit of an exodus from Microsoft as two key players have left in search of the promised land in the last week.

Among those was the director of development for Microsoft Orifice, Don Gagne, who wants to pursue something a little more safer -- a car racing career.

The insider blog Mini-Microsoft, here, which has been looking at Volish restructuring and is no fan of middle management at the Volehill said Gagne going was "a super huge loss for Microsoft and a colossal loss for Office".

Gagne was an "engineer's engineer", a voice for reason, and a champion of what is best for Microsoft's customers, the blog said.

The other person to leave is Hadi Partovi, general manager of the MSN portal. According to the Seattle Times, here, he is leaving to start his own company. But his move happened after Microsoft merged the MSN unit into the Windows division, so he might be a tad miffed at that.

Partov was involved in several MSN initiatives including MSN Music and the start.com news reader service.

Lately high profile Voles who have left the Redmond Volehill have included Ward Cunningham, inventor of wikis and Jim Allchin, the company's chief Windows architect. µ