• The Seattle Times, Wednesday, May 25, 2011 11:58 AM

It's never a good time to lose talent, but these days Microsoft can least afford it. Alas, Otto Berkes -- the last of the original Xbox founders who more recently worked on a prototype slate computing device and Bing -- is headed out the door. Berkes later was general manager for Microsoft's chief software architect Ray Ozzie until Ozzie left last year. "Berkes is leaving for another company outside of the Seattle area, but he wouldn't say which one," reports The Seattle Times.

"He did say the departure isn't because of frustration over projects or strategic choices by Microsoft." Still, Berkes' departure comes as Microsoft is struggling to catch up in the increasingly key areas of mobile and tablet computing. Google, despite clearly lacking Microsoft's history with software and hardware development, is making mobile look easy.

"The big question is whether Microsoft's current leadership can nurture and retain the rare kind of employee who can conceive of far-out new products, defend the ideas to fruition and ship the finished product." Obviously, with every Berkes and Ozzie the company loses, that proposition becomes less likely.

Read the whole story at The Seattle Times »