Rick Sherlund - the last of the big software sell side analysts

Paul Kedrosky breaks news of Rick Sherlund, who covered Microsoft and other major software vendors, leaving Goldman Sachs. Any one who has lasted this long and has watched that much investor wealth creation around software becomes an industry icon. Still the rumor has been out for a while he was tired of the quarterly grind and at the Sandhill conference last month it was pretty much accepted it was just a matter of when he would leave.

Like Paul, I have been surprised Rick stayed so long. Especially after his long time competitor Charles Phillips left Morgan Stanley for Oracle, I thought Rick would similarly bolt.

Another sign the technology influence game has been changing for a while. Investors and buyers don't just want repackaged vendor propaganda - and are wary of analysts whose firms derive most of their revenue from vendor sources - investment banking, consulting, whatever.