BEA's Bosworth decamps to Google

BEA Systems Chief Architect Adam Bosworth is leaving the company to join search heavyweight Google.

Friday is the last day at BEA for Bosworth, chief architect and senior vice president of advanced development, according to a representative of the Java software company. The representative would not comment on whether BEA will fill Bosworth's position.

Bosworth is a well-respected technology executive in the software industry. Before working for start-up Crossgain, which BEA acquired in 2001, Bosworth spent several years at Microsoft, where he worked on successful projects, such as Microsoft's Access database.

As he did at Microsoft, Bosworth at BEA sought to simplify difficult programming tasks. He helped design BEA's WebLogic Workshop development tool for Java, focusing on ease of use.

Bosworth's latest project at BEA was called Alchemy, which is a blueprint for how software companies can build mobile Web applications.

The departure of Bosworth does not come at a particularly good time for BEA, which is facing intense competitive pressure."

The company, which Oracle listed as one of the firms on its potential takeover list, posted worse-than-expected first-quarter revenue in May. The company also shuffled its product management group earlier this year. It moved the former vice president of its products division, Olivier Helleboid, to do more long-term planning and put chief marketing officer Tod Nielsen in charge of product development on a temporary basis.

A representative from Google was not immediately available for comment.