Steven Sinofsky, Windows president, leaves Microsoft

[garyopa]

'Microsoft Just Lost Its Steve Jobs...'



Only a weeks after the launch of Windows 8 and the Surface tablet, Steven Sinofsky departs Microsoft for reasons unknown...

Steven Sinofsky, the president of Windows and Windows Live Division, is leaving Microsoft effective immediately, after 20+ years of being there.

This comes just a few weeks after the tech giant released Windows 8 and the new Surface tablet. The executive led the development of both.

He will be replaced by Julie Larson-Green. Neither Microsoft nor Sinofsky provided any info as why he left, but some claim the move is a result of growing discontent within the software giant, with a number of executives reportedly unhappy when working with him due to his failure to be a "team player."

In a press release, CEO Steve Ballmer said the company needed to be more aligned and integrated, with more regular software releases:

I am grateful for the many years of work that Steven has contributed to the company. The products and services we have delivered to the market in the past few months mark the launch of a new era at Microsoft. We've built an incredible foundation with new releases of Microsoft Office, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Microsoft Surface, Windows Server 2012, and Halo 4, and great integration of services such as Bing, Skype, and Xbox across all our products. To continue this success it is imperative that we continue to drive alignment across all Microsoft teams, and have more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offerings.

And, this is what Sinofsky wrote:

It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft. I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company.

Well, his departure could be terrible news for the tech company...

Sinofsky deserves all the credit (or blame) for Microsoft’s new path. He led the development of Windows 8 single-mindedly and almost single-handedly, cutting out input from other divisions as well as from his underlings. His abrasive attitude won him few friends at the company (see Jay Greene’s great CNET profile of Sinofsky), but even his critics conceded that he got stuff done. Before Sinofsky took over, Microsoft’s Windows division had been tattered by the disastrous Vista release. Sinofsky didn’t just right the ship. He also understood that Microsoft was falling behind its competitors, and he knew just how to modernize Windows for an era in which people want computers that function like appliances. Because he succeeded in launching Windows and the Surface on time (though not exactly to rave reviews), he’d been widely considered to be the guy to replace Steve Ballmer as Microsoft’s next CEO.

But now Sinofsky is suddenly gone. And while I bet his departure will make Microsoft a nicer place to work, I’m not sure that harmony is what the company needs now. Under Ballmer, Microsoft has long operated like it doesn’t care about the future, missing the rise of the iPod, touchscreen smartphones, and modern tablets. Now, thanks to Sinofsky, it’s finally got a chance to break with that sorry past. So he was a jerk. So what? With Sinofsky’s departure, Microsoft is rudderless at a time of intense competition. He was the firm’s most thoughtful executive, certainly more perceptive about technology than Ballmer. Sinofsky had a firm vision about where the PC industry should go. Ballmer does not. As Michael Pusateri quipped on Twitter, “The wrong Steve is leaving Microsoft.”

So, what do you think?

NEWS SOURCE #1: Steven Sinofsky Microsoft just lost its Steve Jobs how will it ever catch (via) Slate
NEWS SOURCE #2: Steven Sinofsky Windows president leaving Microsoft effective immediately (via) ArsTechnica

Our thanks to 'Gauss' for this news item!

[WoIverine]

Wow, that's a big deal. Maybe MS is realizing they're not getting the sales results they aimed for with Windows 8. If I had bought a copy, I probably would've tried to return it, it has a lot of beneficial features, but it's too much of a radical jump. To me, after playing around with it for a while, I just can't really use it efficiently, and don't really feel like taking the time to re-learn what already works so well in Windows 7. They should've tweaked 7 and gradually moved everyone over to 8 slowly, with minimal, not radical changes.

[Battlefield]

I bought Win 8 for gaming purposes, and installed as secondary boot. Win 7 is main OS as Win 8 is not a real OS.

Windows Phone users will love Win 8. Not even new 360 GUI is as close 0as Windows Phone.

Win 8 was released too early for Win 7 replacement, and its more like the next gen MS Mediacenter.
Keep Win 7 as OS, and use Win 8 for fun.

Steve Jobs...Both is assholes, and i doubt MS suffers from this. Maybe MS get better.. or worse.
Win 8 was atleast the last nail in his coffin. Win 8 is a tablet OS, not a PC OS. This is why it cant replace Win 7.