Hi,

I’ve always been open and honest on my blog and it is time to share broadly the news that I’ve left Microsoft.  I’ve been considering my career and a few things became apparent.

• I wanted a break. 

When I joined Microsoft over 12 years ago, a sabbatical was part of the deal.  While this changed during my employment, I’ve decided to take one anyway, so I’ve been putting my feet up over the last few weeks and will continue to do so into the new year.  Obviously, I’m not sitting at home completely idle, but it does mean that I’m generally here when my girls get home from school and cannot say a pressing piece of work is keeping me from spending time with them.  This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but not been able to do so while in full time employment.  Playing The Gunstringer (includes Fruit Ninja Kinect) with Lizzy or visiting the Royal Institute with Molly tonight for the filming of the Christmas Lectures are just two highlights.

• Finding a new passion. 

Looking at this blog, you can tell that the things that made me passionate, that I can share in public, have reduced as has the time to blog on them.  Well, I want that to change, so I’m considering the options for a new adventure out there.  I think cloud is going to grow beyond the expectations of many of my former colleagues along with BYOD, traditional desktops and on-premise server technology.  I’m focusing on something that can light one of those passions again in a way that I can publically share.

What about Windows Intune and SBS I may hear you ask?  Well, I think Windows Intune will continue to grow and fill a broader set of needs, reducing some of those that were previously filled by SBS.  The SBS marketplace has changed with many finding an e-mail solution in the cloud more than meets their needs.  For some, the pricing needs tweaking, however I feel that this is becoming more of a commodity, so the SBS license + servicing costs are moving towards the fee paid by the cloud provider.  The other great SBS functionality is still available in the SBS 2011 and Windows Server 2012 products.  None of us relish change, especially when it is fundamental to the business we have been doing for the last 5-15 years, but the IT marketplace is nothing if not constantly re-inventing itself.  Welcome to the future of now!

I’m probably going to look at how hard it is to create a domain on Azure and manage desktop PC’s with it as well as join it to Office 365.  If I can get Windows Server 2012 Essentials on it, even better!  I also expect to write about the latest version of Windows Intune very soon

For those who want to, I can still be reached via the blog for discussion or anything else.  In the short term, besides really enjoying Christmas, see the house decorations here, I’m exploring the IT industry to get a better vibe for what is going on.  I’ll update everyone on my findings in the next month or so, assuming someone does not snap me up before then!

Thanks for everyone’s support

David