RSSMS Calls in Sinofsky to Fix Windows
By Ed Oswald | Published March 22, 2006, 11:15 AM
Sources indicate that Microsoft is planning to shake up its Windows group by naming Microsoft Office head Steven Sinofsky as its new chief.
The move comes as an effort to inject more life in a company that has been plagued by slower growth in recent years, and to a division that has become increasingly inept in delivering updates to the market leading operating system.
Sinofsky is known for his tough management style, something Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer seems more interested in promoting among company executives these days, say sources.
Kevin Johnson, who was named the company's Windows and MSN head back in September, is overseeing the restructuring of the Windows division that includes Sinofsky's hiring. While the plan is not finalized, it may also mean the merging of parts of the Windows team into other divisions.
The management shakeup is not due to the Vista delay, but it's likely meant to prevent such a problem from happening in the future. Under Sinofsky, Office updates have come in a timely fashion, with a more disciplined team.
However, the opposite has occurred in the Windows division under Allchin. After the company was able to reliably ship a new version of the operating system every two to three years since Windows 1.0 in 1985, it will take six from XP's launch until Vista finally ships.
This could be due to the fact that engineers on the Windows team have much more leeway -- and say -- in decisions that in other divisions, some speculate.
Regardless, Allchin will stay on as Windows head through the Vista launch, however Sinofsky is expected by sources to assume the reigns after that.
Analyst opinion has been pretty unanimous that the delay is bad news for Microsoft. JupiterResearch senior analyst Joe Wilcox also disputed Allchin's logic during a conference call Tuesday evening saying that PC sales wouldn't be affected by Microsoft's troubles.
"I can't imagine why any PC manufacturer wouldn't want to have Windows Vista systems to sell for the holidays," he said. "For if nothing else, they lose the benefit of massive Windows marketing, let alone a brand, new operating system to dress up PCs."
News of the management shakeup first appeared in the Wednesday edition of the Wall Streeet Journal.
...
"The management shakeup is not due to the Vista delay, but it's likely meant to prevent such a problem from happening in the future"
...
THAT sounds like corporate double-talk !
'Oh, it ain't because Vista will be late ...only to keep it from being late again'.
...
The Computer Rodent
...
Score: 0
|What, exactly, is your point?
Score: 0
|Most people only surf the web and read emails. The question would then be why would they want VISTA if the have office XP. ONly reason could be if the marketing guy says performance which most people believe suprisingly.
Score: 0
|They wouldn't want Vista if they have Office XP... because Office XP isn't an operating system. They would want Office 2007. If you mean Windows XP, then they would want Vista for whatever functionality improvements impress them enough to buy it, or because they are just follow-the-leader kinda folks.
Score: 0
|Microsoft has experienced slower growth not because it is not creating new versions of Windows, but rather because most people are now generally happy with the stability of XP, and with their current computer. Even Microsoft Office's greatest competitor is its own former versions.
I suspect most people won't upgrade to Vista until they're ready to upgrade their hardware anyway.
Score: 0
|I know I plan to upgrade both Windows AND Office as soon as they're available. There is sufficient usability, performance, and security functionality to merit my upgrade, and quite frankly, because I want a chance to learn the new products before everyone I know gets it and starts bugging me with questions about it.
Score: 0
|"it will take six [years] from XP's launch until Vista finally ships."
Really more like a little over five years (somewhere around five years and three months if it first appears in January like the last article said) ... I don't think that deserves being called six quite yet.
Of course, if they change the date again...
Score: 0
|YAWN!! Who cares if they ever fix it.
You know when I go to slashdot.org, about 1 in 15 stories have anything to do with Microsoft, the least influential company in the entie world of computers right now. They are doing nothing innovated, all they do is fix their 10 year old software.
Betanews, there is more computer news out there, you do not have to be a clearing house for all things Microsoft!
Score: 0
|Aegis -
Yes, there's been a lot of news on Microsoft today. But I highly dispute your claim we are some kind of "clearinghouse."
News breaks. We, as a reputable news organization, must cover it. Some days there may be more, some days less. There have been several days in the past few weeks where we have had none, if very little news on Microsoft.
Like it or not, Microsoft is a big company, and a big company generates a lot of news.
Score: 0
|MS's market cap is so much more than most large tech companies combined. MS makes a move, it effects the industry, like it or not. You can bet IE7 will have impact on almost every tenet of the online world. Security impacts effect networks, etc. It all trickles down.
Score: 0
|even this morning in CNN. they had like 10 minutes of microsoft news.
Score: 0
|So I take it you're reading Betanews today because Slashdot isn't +mod-ing your posts or something? Go troll their forums since you like them so much.
Score: 0
|Well boo-hoo. There ARE other channels and news forums.
Score: 0
|or maybe, like myself, they are looking at beta news for their comic relief, watching all you fanboys trip over each others tongues :)
Score: 0
|Rearranging the deck chairs.
Microsoft: your problem is internal stagnation. Moving managers from one department to another will not fix that problem. It will only slow things down.
Score: 0
|mICRO$OFT is irrelevant. the only thing gATE$ is interested now is his philan$TROPHY.
Score: 0
|