Sam Ramji, who many call Microsoft's open source guru, is leaving the company, he announced during a press conference today.
The company's senior director of platform strategy, cited family reasons for his departure.
“This is a personal family decision to move back to California," he said. "I’ve been living in Seattle for the last several years as part of my commitment to the mission at Microsoft, but due to illnesses in my wife’s family, we’ve made the difficult personal decision to return to California.”
Ramji's last day with Microsoft will be Sept. 25. He will serve as interim president of Microsoft's brand new CodePlex open source foundation, and will seek a full time president after 100 days. Microsoft is currently in the process of seeking a replacement for Ramji.