Microsoft’s attempts to advance in search technology appear to have hit another roadblock after it was reported that a high-profile executive is leaving the company.

The Wall Street Journal and Reuters report that Christopher Payne, vice-president of Windows Live Search and a key executive in Microsoft’s attempts to wrest search leadership from Google, is leaving Microsoft to set up a new company. Microsoft was not able to confirm the report in time for this story.

Payne is reportedly leaving the company because, despite the software giant’s efforts, their search market share is flat. Various polls give Microsoft only about 10 percent of the search market while Google has anything between a 45 percent and a 61 percent share.

The second departure is Michael Gartenberg, recruited just a few weeks ago from analyst firm Jupiter.

In a blog entry yesterday, Gartenberg wrote: “At my core, I am an analyst. It’s what I do and I do it well and after much thought, I realise I’m just not ready to stop doing that job just yet.”

On 15 February, Gartenberg explained why he was leaving Jupiter for an evangelist position at Microsoft.

“There’s a revolution going on. A battle for the hearts and minds of consumers in terms of their digital lives. I firmly believe that Microsoft is the only company that will enable the seamless transition for users to move in and out of the different aspects of their lives,” Gartenberg wrote. “In short, no one else comes close to presenting a complete, unified and integrated view of the digital home of the 21st century.”

Another short tenure at Microsoft, this time in the consumer sector, is also at an end, with Stephanie Quilao leaving her position as an “enthusiast evangelist” after just nine weeks. Quilao’s role was to promote Microsoft’s technologies and influence trendsetters.

In a post, Quilao said she had “felt like Martha Stewart trying to fit in at the Star Trek convention” and said cheaper tools were more suitable for small start-up businesses.

“I created my blog business for less than $100, and it costs me about the price of a pair of nice jeans a month to run beyond my time and energy,” she wrote. “I cannot do this with the current MS products or services. And I tried.”