Miguel de Icaza, founder of Xamarin and a developer behind the Mono framework, is leaving Microsoft.
Miguel de Icaza was one of the original developers that helped create the Mono framework, in an effort to bring .Net to Linux. He went on to co-found Xamarin, a company dedicated to supporting Mono and using such frameworks to make cross-platform mobile development much faster and easier. Microsoft acquired Xamarin in 2016, and de Icaza stayed with the company.
According to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, de Icaza is now leaving, and will likely pursue various startup opportunities…eventually.
“I am going to rest while the kids are in school,” he told Foley, saying he plans on enjoying vacation time with them. Ultimately, however, de Icaza believes he’ll be lured back to the startup life.
“Living in this industry is like the kid at the candy store – too many things are happening and there are too many choices. So I want to spend some time sampling some of the candy, and then deciding which one I want to buy a pound of,” de Icaza said.
“If I wanted to work for a big company, I would have stayed here (at Microsoft). It is awesome here,” he added. “I learned a lot, it was good, but I do miss the startup world, and building and running a team – which I have not been doing here in this role.”
Given his track record of innovative development, it’s a safe bet de Icaza will have no shortage of opportunities available to him.
