(MarketingVOX) Apple's chief technology officer, Avadis "Avie" Tevanian, best known for his work in developing Apple's Mac OS X operating system, has said he will retire as of Friday (surely not "glad tidings"* for Apple), reports VNUnet. He started out as Apple's VP of software engineering before becoming chief software technology officer in 2003.

Tevanian is "leaving the company to pursue other interests," Katie Cotton, vice-president of corporate communications, is quoted as saying in an email to CNET.

Tevanian joined Apple from NeXT in 1997, after serving as head of engineering for that Steve Jobs-run startup. He served as vice-president of software engineering and in 2003 was named chief software technology officer.

*Tevanian's first name is the Armenian word for the biblical "glad tidings" (or gospel).