Key Software Architect Will Leave Microsoft

One of the original programmers and architects of Microsoft Word and Excel has announced that he is leaving Microsoft to start his own company. Charles Simonyi, a veteran of Microsoft since 1981, is leaving to found Intentional Software Corporation, apparently with Microsoft's approval. Simonyi will retain rights to patented products he developed while at Microsoft, and Microsoft will have first licensing and negotiating rights for products developed by Intentional. Intentional's products, according to Simonyi, will "aim to create software that makes it easier to program new applications through the use of graphic images, charts and text." Simonyi came to Microsoft from Xerox's famous Palo Alto Research Center. While at Palo Alto Research Center, Simonyi created a graphic text editing program that later became Microsoft Word. It isn't likely that Intentional Software will be an undercapitalized start-up venture, as Simonyi's net worth was recently estimated by Forbes magazine to be $1 billion.