Rod Johnson, the founder and CEO of SpringSource and the creator of the Spring Framework, announced that he has left VMware, where he headed up the virtualization giant’s open-source Java and middleware efforts as the senior vice president of application platform strategy and general manager of VMware's SpringSource division.

VMware bought Johnson’s SpringSource back in 2009 for $362 million in cash and $58 million in stock.

Johnson is the latest and the highest profile name associated with SpringSource to leave VMware in the last year.  But more than just another executive, Johnson was also an outspoken advocate.  

Others who have already departed include Peter Cooper-Ellis, formerly VP of engineering at the SpringSource division of VMware and now vice president of engineering for Hadoop big-data start-up Cloudera; Mark Brewer, who was VMware's VP for business operations for its Cloud Application Platform and is now president and chief executive of TypeSafe; and SpringSource product strategy VP Shaun Connelly, who became vice president of corporate strategy at Hortonworks.

So why leave now?

On the SpringSource blog, Johnson explains:

"The last ten years has been an exciting and challenging journey for me and I’m very proud of the technology and community that my SpringSource cofounders and I fostered. However, there always comes a time to make a choice about the places you’ll go, and it’s time for me to leave VMware and pursue other interests. I wish VMware and my colleagues continued success, and know that Spring will continue to thrive."

...

"Ten years is a long time. I’m ready for some different challenges. I’ll always be part of the Spring community, and will continue to contribute ideas. And like any parent that has helped raise a child to maturity, I am proud and excited to see the new places where Spring will go."