Veteran Windows architect resigns from Microsoft

On the heels of a week of news of a number of Microsoft executive departures and reshufflings, another has come to light. Rob Short, Corporate Vice President for Windows Core, has resigned from the company.

Short was a key member of Microsoft's Core Operating System Division (COSD) team. COSD is charged with "the design, development and testing of the core components of the Microsoft Windows operating system: the operating system core, virtual machine technology, input/output subsystems and the core device drivers," according to Short's (still-existent) bio on Microsoft's corporate Web site.

COSD was created in December 2003 under former Microsoft President Jim Allchin's watch to ensure Windows "engineering excellence." In forming COSD, Allchin hand-picked a team, almost all of whom were Windows client and/or server veterans with impressive and lengthy pedigrees, to focus on improving the core components of Windows. Specifically: the kernel, I/O (input/output) system; core devices; setup; and all the build properties.

COSD is currently headed by Senior Vice President Jon DeVaan, who reports directly to Microsoft Platforms & Services President Kevin Johnson. COSD is not part of the Windows client or Windows Server teams, but its engineers work hand-in-hand with developers in both of those groups.

Short joined Microsoft 20 years ago from Digital Equipment Corp. and was part of the first Windows NT development team.

Microsoft confirmed that Short officially left the company in December 2007 and declined to say more.

According to sources close to the company, Short has been on leave for the past year and was expected to return to Microsoft at the end of 2007. Short allegedly told management that he was not coming back at the end of last year.