Julie Larson-Green Replacing Sinofsky as Head of Windows

[Corrine]

Lots of fast-breaking news on this change! I'll capture a few here.

Official Announcement: Microsoft Announces Leadership Changes to Drive Next Wave of Products

Windows Chief Sinofsky Leaving Microsoft - NYTimes.com

Steven Sinofsky, the leader of Microsoft‘s Windows business, is leaving the company, just weeks after the company released the biggest overhaul in decades of its flagship product.

Microsoft described the departure of Mr. Sinfosky, a 23-year veteran of the company, as a mutual decision by Mr. Sinofsky and Steven A. Ballmer, the chief executive of the company. Julie Larson-Green, another Microsoft veteran in its Windows division, will take over the leadership of all engineering responsibilities related to Windows. Tami Reller, the chief financial officer of the Windows division, will run business and marketing for the group.

Who is Julie Larson-Green? Meet the new head of Windows | ZDNet

Julie Larson-Green has been Corporate Vice President, Program Management, Windows Client. Larson-Green is no stranger to Windows: She has had between 1,200 and 1,400 program managers, researchers, content managers and other members of the Windows team reporting to her.

{Snip}

Microsoft "discovered" Larson-Green after a few Softies attended a talk she gave comparing Microsoft compilers to Borland compilers and asked her to run a Visual C++ focus group for the company. In 1993, she ended up landing a job on the Visual C++ team, where focused on the integrated development environment. She moved to the Internet Explorer team (where she worked on the user experience for IE 3.0 and 4.0) and then, in 1997, to the Office team to work on FrontPage, where she got her first group program manager job. She also did a stint on the SharePoint Team Services team, back when SharePoint was known as "Office.Net."

Larson-Green subsequently led user interface design for Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2007.

Mini-Microsoft: A Microsoft Without Sinofsky?

Steve Ballmer’s Memo on the Windows Unit Shake-Up - Ina Fried - News - AllThingsD

Windows head Steven Sinofsky leaves Microsoft - Computerworld

Microsoft didn't say why Sinofsky left. In a statement, CEO Steve Ballmer thanked him for his work and added, somewhat ambiguously, that the company must "continue to drive alignment across all Microsoft teams, and have more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offerings."

According to the All Things D blog, there was growing tension between Sinofsky and other members of the Microsoft executive team, who didn't see him as enough of a team player. But Microsoft's official position is that the decision was a mutual one.

 

[JMH]

Steven Sinofsky leaves Microsoft, effective immediately

Steven Sinofsky, the head of Windows and the guy who presided over the launch of both Windows 8 and the Surface, has officially left Microsoft effective immediately. According to a Microsoft press release announcing the leadership shakeup, Julie Larson-Green will be promoted to head of all Windows software and hardware engineering, while CFO and CMO Tami Reller takes on the business of Windows.

AllThingsD reports that there has been growing tension between Sinofsky and other executives at Microsoft, and the two decided to part ways mutually. Sinfosky has been at Microsoft since 1989, working mostly in the Office unit before his promotion to President of the Windows Division in 2009. His duties as President included work on Internet Explorer, Outlook.com, SkyDrive and other (former) Live services, as well as restoring the Windows division after Vista's less than desirable launch.

http://www.neowin.net/news/steven-s...&utm_campaign=Feed:+neowin-main+(Neowin+News)

 

[JMH]

Who are the people taking over Windows at Microsoft?

The tech world is still reeling from the fact that Steven Sinofsky, who lead the Windows team at Microsoft for many years, has left the company just a few weeks after the launch of Windows 8 and Surface. So who are the people who will now be in charge of the Windows division?

As announced by Microsoft in its press release this evening, Julie Larson-Green will take over as the head of both Windows software and hardware development. We assume that means she will supervise the expansion of the company's Surface tablet. Larson-Green received her master's degree in software engineering from Seattle University along with her bachelor's degree in business administration from Western Washington University.

According to a 2010 profile posted on ZDNet.com, Larson-Green joined Microsoft in 1993 and worked on the Visual C++ team. Later, she helped create the user experience for Internet Explorer 3.0 and 4.0 and then joined the Microsoft Office team in 1997 where she lead the user interface design for Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2007.

http://www.neowin.net/news/who-are-the-people-taking-over-windows-at-microsoft

 

[AceInfinity]

Re: Steven Sinofsky leaves Microsoft, effective immediately

Now this could be bad or good. Such drastic and immediate changes without practice in certain positions can be more damaging than one might think. I'm not doubting her though, good luck Julie Larson-Green, and congratulations! :grin1:

~Ace

 

[JMH]

After Sinofsky, Microsoft must stop the secrecy, say analysts

The best move Microsoft could make after Steven Sinofsky's departure is to ditch the culture of secrecy he brought to Windows, analysts said today.

"One thing that may be a benefit to Microsoft is to drop the belief that information non-disclosure is a critical component of development," said Wes Miller, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a research firm that focuses on the Redmond, Wash. company's moves.

"When you distance your evangelists from the information they need to succeed, you hurt yourself," added Miller. "[The secrecy] over Windows 8 did not help their case."

Sinofsky, 47, and a 23-year veteran of Microsoft, either vacated his position as president of the Windows division of his own accord Monday, or was fired by CEO Steve Ballmer. Microsoft promoted Julie Larson-Green, a Sinofsky lieutenant and Window's chief designer, to head all Windows software and hardware engineering, and gave CFO Tami Reller responsibility for the business side of Windows.

Sinofsky's exit was a surprise to most Microsoft watchers, although in the days since several have claimed they had heard rumors of his impending departure, or noted signs that in hindsight predicted the move.

http://www.itworld.com/windows/315328/after-sinofsky-microsoft-must-stop-secrecy-say-analysts

 

[AceInfinity]

"One thing that may be a benefit to Microsoft is to drop the belief that information non-disclosure is a critical component of development," - Oooh comments like that can be a bit scary, and I don't think they have any idea by the sounds of it.

If they go too far with this concept, that can bring quite a few issues. Think about the bigger picture on this one. :)