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In a statement Microsoft said 'We've made the difficult decision to part ways with Martin Taylor,' which makes it sound as though he was pushed rather than jumped.

He leaves a post to which he was only appointed in March. Before then he was in charge of the Microsoft 'Get the Facts' campaign with which the company attacked the claims of the open source movement and of Linux in particular. Taylor is

Although it is possible to read too much into the departure, Taylor leaves shortly after Bill Gates announced his own decision to step down from the role of Chief Software Architect at Microsoft in favour of Ray Ozzie. It may be that either Ozzie or Taylor felt they could not work with each other. Or perhaps it was decided to put a new man at the helm of the division before the marketing blitz begins in earnest later this summer.

Whatever the reason, the timing of Taylor's departure is not brilliant from Microsoft's point of view. On Tuesday the company announced that the launch of Live Messenger was among the first of a roll-out of 20 or so products over the next few months that will be vital in establishing Microsoft as a major player in the delivery of online services. While the product launches will undoubtedly go ahead, the departure of the VP in charge of the line is likely to be disruptive to say the least.