Microsoft search boss resigning

Christopher Payne, vice president of Microsoft's Live search effort, is resigning to start a company in Seattle.

The resignation hasn't been officially announced, but someone in the Live group at Microsoft confirmed the situation, on condition he was identified only as a knowledgeable source.

Payne's resignation follows a similar decision by Blake Irving, the vice president in charge of Live's technology platform.

There's a reorganization under way, and additional changes will probably be announced soon.

But my source insisted that Payne and Irving aren't being pushed out because Microsoft's search effort has done poorly in its competition with Google.

"These guys aren't being purged, these two guys are walking away to go do other stuff,'' he said.