Bob Muglia and I have been talking about the overall business and what is needed to accelerate our growth.

FORBES: Microsoft: Muglia Out As Server Chief

Despite this, many of the comments on Mr Muglia's blogpost took the software giant to task for the change.

BBC: Coders decry Silverlight change

Mr Muglia said the shift on strategy was not a "negative statement" but a recognition that the industry had changed.

BBC: Coders decry Silverlight change

The strategy shift emerged as a result of an interview that Bob Muglia, Microsoft's head of servers and tools division, gave at the company's Professional Developers Conference.

BBC: Coders decry Silverlight change

The furore kicked off by Mr Muglia's comments also led Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer to underscore the software giant's commitment to Silverlight technology in a statement of his own.

BBC: Coders decry Silverlight change

Mr Muglia clarified his comments in a blog post saying that exploding use of e-readers, tablets and different sorts of smartphones now made it "practically impossible" to get something like Silverlight running on all those devices.

BBC: Coders decry Silverlight change

Why is Muglia out?

FORBES: Microsoft's Bob Muglia Says Good-Bye