Palo Alto: Her long running battle over giving strategic directions is no more. Microsoft Veteran Paul Maritz takes charge as the CEO replacing Dianne Greene, the co founder of VMware.

As per the sources, Greene was fired after she refused to resign or take another position at VMware. In a report last month, A. M. Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, wrote: "We believe an activist shareholder could pressure EMC management to completely spin off VMware."

Followed by the spin off, shares of Palo Alto-based VMware plunged 26 percent after the software maker replaced co-founder and CEO Diane Greene and warned that revenue would fall short of prior estimates. VMWare, which is controlled by data-management provider EMC has fallen mightily since a blockbuster partial spinoff last year. After its initial public offering in August, VMWare stock tripled from its $29 opening price in the first month - the biggest technology IPO since Google went public in 2004.

Greene is a former naval architect and was one of Silicon Valley's few female CEOs. Described by one business partner as 'technically brilliant and fiercely combative,' she built VMware into a $1.3 billion company with 6,000 employees in just 10 years.