Stephen Elop sees a lot to like about the Finnish culture that pervades his future employer, Nokia -- but the country's famous black candy, salmiakki? Not so much.

The departure of Stephen Elop to Nokia leaves Microsoft with a vacancy at the top of one of its largest and most important divisions, but the company doesn't show any signs of rushing to fill the position.

Nokia has named Stephen Elop, former president of Microsoft's business software group, to become its new CEO effective from later this month.

Microsoft's Business Division oversees one of its most successful products, the Office productivity suite, as well as the company's lucrative server and enterprise software businesses. However, like the rest of the company, the division has not been immune to the pressure of the recession, and revenue fell 13 per cent in the quarter ending in June.