Enns had spent 11 years at Juniper and oversaw the unit in charge of its Junos network operating system. Before that, he spent 10 years at Berkeley Networks, FORE Systems and IBM.

The news comes only a day after Juniper announced that it had hired Brad Brooks, a vice president of Microsoft’s Windows business unit, as its new vice president of enterprise marketing. Juniper has also been acquisitive in recent months, and bought three companies late last year.

Nicira is working on creating software that it says “virtualizes the network.” The company was founded by researchers from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. Its CTO and co-founder, Martin Casado, did his Ph.D. work on the technology that Nicira hopes to bring to market. Its other two founders are Nick McKeown and Scott Shenker, professors of electrical engineering and computer science at Stanford and Berkeley, respectively. Its CEO is Steve Mullaney a veteran networking executive who’s worked at Palo Alto Networks, Shoretel and Cisco Systems, among others. AH co-founder Ben Horowitz sits on Nicira’s board of directors.

A Microsoft representative said the company had no immediate comment on who would fill Brooks’ shoes. A source says they are still figuring that one out. Brooks’ departure is the latest in a string of departures, including last week’s announcement that Server and Tools unit President Bob Muglia would leave the company this summer.

Here’s a copy of Brooks’s memo to the Windows team:

“Well done is better than well said” – Ben Franklin

This quote says so much about the Windows team and my last 9 incredible years here at Microsoft.

We did so much together.

We touched billions of customers with our messages. We launched amazing products. We have changed the world, and most importantly, we have delivered results.

Whether it was by creating vision and curiosity in the marketplace with Media Center; or turning a declining $900M Windows SA business into a $3B pillar of the enterprise value proposition; or dreaming about what a Microsoft retail experience could be and seeing the company make it a reality; or reinventing how we talk and touch consumers with our marketing and advertising; or how to just plain launching a darn good product into the world – Microsoft style – with Windows 7. We let our actions speak for us, not our words.

We did so much together.

My message here to you is really about “we” and not “me.” There are no self-made people in this world. My incredible journey has been because of you — the team, the Windows team, the Microsoft team. We have overcome some of the toughest challenges in the business, and certainly we continue to be engaged in some of the fiercest competitive battles Windows has ever faced; but we have also never been better positioned with current product, future road map, leadership and people talent to win these battles in the 9 years I have been here.

Microsoft is a family in its own right, and it has also grown to become a part of my family in so many ways. I can fly into any city in the world and say that I have a Microsoft friend close by that I can call on. That is truly special and amazing.

But, after a lot of difficult thought, I’ve decided to make a change. These are your battles now, I’ve got new battles to go fight with Juniper Networks (and as you know I have the most fun when the competitive fight is on) and my new adventure will give me plenty of opportunity to have “fun.”

I will be around through February 4th working on transition and providing my best and last advice and counsel on the Windows business. My door will be open if you want to come by and talk about anything.

We did so much together, the journey has been incredible and for that I can only say – Thank you!

Good-bye for now,
-Brad

In a new chapter to its ad campaign that will begin airing during the NCAA basketball playoffs on CBS (CBS) Thursday evening, Microsoft will begin hammering on a theme that could resonate in these times of economic hardship: how much less expensive Windows PCs are than Macs. For the commercials, Microsoft’s advertising agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, recruited prospective computer shoppers in the Los Angeles area through Craigslist and other sites, with a tantalizing offer to give them between $700 and $2,000 to purchase a new PC.

According to Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows consumer product marketing at Microsoft, the agency told recruits it was a market research firm and didn’t mention it was working with Microsoft. The recruits were told they could keep whatever money they didn’t spend on a PC so they had incentives to look for good values.

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Apparently, Windows Vista isan operating system consumers should invest in–at least according to Microsoft, which apparently views the OS’s failure as one of marketing and not technology. But there are those who disagree, particularly one snarky competitor who’s been mercilessly taunting Microsoft (MSFT) in a high-profile ad campaign for quite some time now. And so to silence them, or perhaps groan loud enough to drown them out, Microsoft is launching a $300 million ad campaign to explain why Vista doesn’t stink to the many folks convinced that it does. “We’ve got a pretty noisy competitor out there,” Brooks said referring to Apple (AAPL) and its biting “I’m a Mac … you’re a dork” commercials. “You know it. I know it. It’s caused some impact. We’re going to start countering it. They tell us it’s the iWay or the highway. We think that’s a sad message.”

Not nearly as sad as proposing to fix technology problems with advertising.

[Image Credit: Worth1000]

Apparently, Windows Vista isan operating system consumers should invest in–at least according to Microsoft, which apparently views the OS’s failure as one of marketing and not technology. But there are those who disagree, particularly one snarky competitor who’s been mercilessly taunting Microsoft (MSFT) in a high-profile ad campaign for quite some time now. And so to silence them, or perhaps groan loud enough to drown them out, Microsoft is launching a $300 million ad campaign to explain why Vista doesn’t stink to the many folks convinced that it does. “We’ve got a pretty noisy competitor out there,” Brooks said referring to Apple (AAPL) and its biting “I’m a Mac … you’re a dork” commercials. “You know it. I know it. It’s caused some impact. We’re going to start countering it. They tell us it’s the iWay or the highway. We think that’s a sad message.”

Not nearly as sad as proposing to fix technology problems with advertising.

[Image Credit: Worth1000]

Windows Vista is a good product. The quiet majority of millions and millions of Windows Vista users out there are going to have a great experience. The message is ‘Move to Vista. The time of worry is over.’”

– Brad Brooks, corporate vice president of Windows Consumer Product, explains Microsoft’s decision to support XP until Windows 7 arrives at market in 2011.