Microsoft dumps Windows Live marketing boss

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 21 June 2006 14:02

IT Industry - Strategy

In what appears to be a non-amicable and sudden parting of the ways, the head of marketing for Windows Live has left Microsoft without any official reason given. Martin Taylor, who had been at Microsoft for 13 years, was credited with having countered the Linux threat top the company and had only just been appointed to his current role as corporate vice president of marketing for Windows Live and MSN in March.

In a statement, all Microsoft had to say was that the company had made a difficult decision to part ways with Taylor but would not comment further other than to publicly thank him for his 13 years of service.

The sudden departure of Taylor came as a complete surprise to the market as he was a protege of CEO Steve Ballmer and had only just assumed his new role in the strategic Windows Live division. In fact, Taylor was quoted in a news release this week and was due to discuss the release with the media.

The fact that Taylor was acting as a company spokesman earlier this week suggests that he had no inkling that two days later he would be unemployed. The news, taken together with the announcement that of Bill Gates passing the chief software architect reigns of Microsoft to Ray Ozzie has prompted some analysts to speculate that Ozzie himself may be behind the dumping of Taylor.

It is not clear when Microsoft will announce a replacement for Taylor. However, it is clear that the software company cannot afford to allow the key marketing role of one of Microsoft's strategic new platforms to remain vacant for too long. Microsoft is under the gun at the moment, with relatively stagnant growth and a depressed share price. Perceived disunity within its senior ranks is not likely to inspire confidence in the marketplace.