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Microsoft's liaison with PC makers leaves position

Steven Guggenheimer, who for four years oversaw Microsoft's relationship with makers of Windows PCs, is moving to a different role. The company says the move isn't related to Surface tension.

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Steven Guggenheimer earlier this month at the launch of Vizio's first-ever line of personal computer products. Sarah Tew/CNET

The man who oversees Microsoft's relationship with makers of Windows PCs is leaving that position, Bloomberg reports.

Steven Guggenheimer, who led Microsoft's Original Equipment Manufacturer unit for four years, will take a sabbatical before heading back to the company to assume a new, unspecified role. He'll be replaced as OEM head by Nick Parker, hitherto the head of marketing for the OEM unit, Bloomberg reported.

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The move comes as Microsoft has been ruffling the feathers of some PC makers with its plans to release its own Windows-based tablet, the Surface. But, according to Bloomberg, Microsoft says the Guggenheimer change had been in the works for a while.

"As a result of long term planning, Steven Guggenheimer will move on from his current role as CVP of the OEM Division effective July 1, to coincide with the start of Microsoft's fiscal year," Bloomberg quotes a Microsoft rep as saying in a statement. "He is taking on a new senior leadership role at the company, and further details will be provided when finalized."