While most folks in the U.S. know Greg Maffei as Microsoft's ex-CFO, here in Canada, he's the former CEO of 360Networks, who came on board just before the telecom boom ended, and ended up steering the company through bankruptcy protection. Shortly after he started to come out of hiding at 360 and granted media interviews, Maffei was hired as Oracle's CFO. It seemed like a good fit given his investment banking and M&A experience. Five months later, however, Maffei gone because he's looking at a "terrific professional opportunity". Venture Chronicles said Maffei was Oracle's fifth CFO since January 2004. Yikes! Everyone is allowed to make a mis-step, particulary when it involves working for Larry Ellison. So what's up with Maffei? I'm willing to wager he's taking a CEO position with a software maker. After you've been the boss - even with a struggling telco - it's hard to become #2 or #3.