Robert Short left Microsoft in December 2007 after 19 years with the company.

In his last role at Microsoft, Rob Short oversaw a team that was responsible for the design, development and testing of the core components of the Microsoft Windows operating system: the operating system core, virtual machine technology, input/output subsystems and the core device drivers. A key short-term initiative focused on improving driver quality for all Windows products. Short's team developed installation and deployment tools, including operating system setup and the Windows XP Embedded product. Short also directed a team of performance and reliability experts to provide analysis and architecture support across the Windows division. Short's team worked extensively with the hardware industry to continually improve the PC experience.

Short started at Microsoft Corp. in 1988 as part of the first Windows NT development team to concentrate on advancing the PC architecture and on the hardware/software interface. Since then he has led the development of setup, plug-and-play, clustering and other core features in Windows.

Before coming to Microsoft, Short was a senior development manager at Digital Equipment Corp. responsible for a variety of software and hardware designs. He has a masters degree in computer science from the University of Washington and is a graduate of Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland.