Pacific Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold resigns by Monica Soto Seattle Times technology reporter When Microsoft chief technologist Nathan Myhrvold took a one-year sabbatical in July, he wrote of an asteroid crashing into Earth in 50 million to 100 million years and of the sun eventually swelling to burn the planet to a cinder.
Nothing lasts forever, no matter how great it has been.
Myhrvold, one of Microsoft's most influential and colorful executives, announced yesterday he would not return to the company. He remains an adviser to Chairman Bill Gates, a role in which he will periodically discuss industry trends with his longtime friend. Myhrvold, whose flamboyant style and inconsistent track record caused controversy within the company, denied earlier reports he was pushed out by President Steve Ballmer, who has engineered a sweeping reorganization. Microsoft yesterday promoted Rick Rashid to senior vice president and Dan Ling to vice president of Microsoft Research, a division Myhrvold convinced Gates the company would need if it wanted to be competitive in the next century. Rashid, who joined the company in September 1991, had been director of Microsoft Research, where he focused on operating systems, networking and multiprocessors.