Stuart Scott, Microsoft's most recent CIO, has been let go from the company, according to a report.This note has been added to Scott's bio on the company's Web site:

Stuart Scott's employment at Microsoft ended in early November 2007.

Scott joined Microsoft in 2005 and he reported to Kevin Turner, chief operating officer. Before Microsoft, Scott worked for 17 years at General Electric, where he most recently served as CIO for several divisions.

Scott appeared on stage at the InformationWeek 500 Conference in Tucson, Ariz., last month, along with Turner, and talked about the pressures of being a CIO at a cutting-edge technology company like Microsoft.

Having Scott and Turner on the stage led to some interesting exchanges. Scott noted that the IT organization now spends almost 45% of its budget on new product development (as opposed to maintenance and ongoing support), a notable improvement from 30% in the past. Turner, asked to point to areas Microsoft IT can still improve, said, "I'd like you to be up around 65% application development spending."

The news of Scott's departure was first reported by Mary Jo Foley, at her blog "All About Microsoft." Foley reported this comment from a Microsoft spokesperson:

"We can confirm that Stuart Scott was terminated after an investigation for violation of company policies, and have no further information to share."