WHY MICROSOFT PRESIDENT QUIT: Wired

WHY MICROSOFT PRESIDENT QUIT: Wired News has an update to the story on Microsoft president’s resignation yesterday:

sources inside Microsoft said that Belluzzo’s control over projects had been systematically pulled away from him, “a sure sign on the Microsoft campus that you should start drafting an announcement indicating a need to spend more time with your family,” another Microsoft employee said.

Before being appointed amid much fanfare last year, Belluzzo focused on the company’s consumer operations, including the Xbox game system, MSN Messenger instant messaging system and the Ultimate TV service. Belluzzo also was instrumental early on in the company’s .NET initiative.

“Rick enjoyed coming up with new ideas for products and services, but the ones he focused most on weren’t our big money-makers,” the games programmer said. “I think he didn’t want to be just a guy who signed off on paperwork, and that’s essentially what his job became. He had been pulled off the brainstorming committees for all his big projects over the past four months.”

Analysts also suspected that Belluzzo resigned in part due to loss of control over his pet projects.

“They gave him a fun job and then took away the fun stuff,” speculated Rob Enderle of Giga Information Group.

UPDATE: Yahoo News also has more information on Belluzzo’s resignation.