<p>Just before Christmas, Microsoft announced internally the pending retirement of Research and Strategy Chief Craig Mundie. His replacement is familiar to some of us veteran Microsoft watchers: Eric Rudder.</p><p>Rudder, for those who may not know of him, given his not-so-public profile for the past few years, is Microsoft's Chief Technical Officer. Rudder has been managing some of Mundie's groups for the past year.</p><p>But effective immediately as of December 2012, he took over completely the management of Microsoft Research, Trustworthy Computing, and the Technology Policy Group. His direct reports include the head of the Startup Business Group inside the company (Amit Mital) and the head of the Strategic Software/Silicon Architectures group (KD Hallman), among others.</p><p>Rudder had almost completely disappeared from the public-speaking circuit after he moved out of his role as Senior Vice President of Server and Tools around 2006.</p><p><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-chief-technical-officer-rudder-is-back-in-the-limelight-7000009719/">Keep reading...</a></p>