• by Shankar Gupta , March 7, 2005

A chief developer of the Windows architecture quietly jumped ship from Microsoft and came on board with search giant Google, company spokespersons confirmed Friday.

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that Marc Lucovsky had left, and a Google spokesperson confirmed that he had been hired, but neither company would provide more specifics about the reasons for the move, or what Lucovsky would be doing for Google. The Mountain View, Calif.-based search engine did not state when Lucovsky officially came on board.

Lucovsky joined Microsoft in 1988, and from November of that year until July 2000, he was the lead architect and developer for designing key elements of the Windows NT operating system. In 2000, he began work on a project code--named "Hailstorm," which resulted in .NET, Microsoft's Web services platform.

He joins several other high-profile developers recently acquired by Google, including Mozilla Firefox developers Ben Goodger and Darin Fisher in January. Google's hiring of Lucovsky ignited some speculation on Google-watching blogs and forums, feeding rumors that they may be developing their own browser or even their own operating system.

"It's hard to read too much into the tea leaves," said JupiterResearch analyst Niki Scevak. "Certainly at some sort of basic level, Google wants smart technologists and Microsoft wants smart technologists, so the two will occasionally swap."

But Scevak said that speculation on a Google browser or operating system is premature. "It's similar to the hiring of the head Firefox developer. It doesn't necessarily mean that they want to develop a browser; it just means that the gentleman is a smart technologist," he said. "It's easy to get excited, but the reality could be a little more mundane."

Lucovsky started a blog Thursday, where he briefly discussed his former company. "Being a 16-year Microsoft veteran, a Distinguished Engineer, key architect and code writer for Windows, architect of the largest source code control and build system ever attempted, I deeply believed that Microsoft knows how to ship software," Lucovsky wrote. "I am not sure I believe anymore, that Microsoft 'knows how to ship software.'"

After his comments had circulated around the Web, he posted a follow-up, stating that he was "in no way trying to trash Microsoft," and that his comments were more pointed toward changes in the way software is delivered.