Microsoft loses its Windows Phone developer manager

SOFTWARE FLOGGER Microsoft has lost its general manager that was overseeing Windows Phone software development.

Charlie Kindel, who has worked at Microsoft for 21 years, decided that now is the time to leave the firm and set up his own company. In a lengthy goodbye email, he reeled off some of his credits, which include working on Internet Explorer 3, Windows NT 4 and the entirely awesome Windows Millenium.

However Kindel's final posting as Microsoft's general manager of its Windows Phone Developer Ecosystem was arguably his most important. When launching a new operating system, especially one that lacks a back catalogue of applications, the developer ecosystem is absolutely vital in order to push demand for the operating system itself.

Kindel was, unsurprisingly, full of praise for his colleagues and claimed Windows Phone is "The BEST product Microsoft has ever built." If Kindel's statement is true, and sadly there's no way of finding out, that would be a damning indictment of the rest of Microsoft's software catalogue.

While Kindel might have said his goodbyes now, he won't be officially leaving the firm until 2 September. He did not give out any information on what his new venture will be other than it will be based in Seattle and that it will involve all of the usual contemporary buzzwords such as social networking, cloud and mobile. With words like those the venture capitalists must be throwing money at Kindel.

Microsoft on the other hand will have to find someone who can replace Kindel, a person who will undoubtedly have loads of experience, in one of its most challenging divisions at a critical time. µ