Windows 7: Microsoft loses last Xbox founder, mobile PC visionary

It's the end of an era at Microsoft today.

Otto Berkes, the last of the original Xbox founders still at the company, submitted his resignation this afternoon.

Berkes went on to lead development of a new category of ultraportable, wireless touchscreen computers that Microsoft called Ultra Mobile PCs.

Among the prototypes Berkes built was a slate-like touchscreen computing device that Bill Gates showed at a 2005 conference in Seattle, years before there were even whispers about Apple's iPad. But the first generation of UltraMobile PCs were expensive, the hardware wasn't as advanced and Microsoft lost interest before the category blossomed.