Following on from Jon DeVaan's Microsoft retirement earlier this week, Redmond's head of software testing has also cut his losses.

Left without a clear role following the companies September re-shuffle, which resulted from the departure of Windows chief Steven Sinofsky, Grant George has cut his ties after nearly two decades with the tech giant.

Employed by the company since 1994 as a tester in the then-newly formed Office unit, George joined the software revolution following 14 years in testing at Tandem Computer.

Sinofsky, who worked with George on both Windows and office, praised the contributions he made at Microsoft.

“Grant always represented the pinnacle of customer focus,” Sinofsky says. “His contributions to both Windows and Office were without parallel in the engineering discipline of testing, automation and quality.”

A representative for Microsoft confirmed George’s departure, which was announced on Tuesday in a memo to colleagues, saying: “We thank him for his contributions to the company and wish him all the best.”