Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is said to have let go of Steven Sinofsky, former president of Microsoft's Windows and Windows Live division, as he was too divisive, according to Cnet.
A Microsoft executive familiar with the senior management stressed that there wasn't a single event that led to Sinofsky's departure after the launch of Windows 8. Instead, it's said that the relationship between Ballmer and Sinofsky deteriorated as the development on the firm's latest operating system progressed.
Sources suggest the two executives came to a number of disagreements in the past months. Although Ballmer wanted Sinofsky to exit the software giant, Microsoft stressed that the decision was mutual.
Apparently, the biggest reason for Ballmer letting go of Sinofsky is his concern of the former employee not working well with fellow executives from other groups.
"Ballmer is on this big kick to get different pieces of the company working together and Sinofsky had his middle finger extended," said a former Microsoft executive.
Sources familiar with discussions to the naming of Sinofsky to manage the Windows division stated that it was an area of "concern" for both Ballmer and Chairman/co-founder Bill Gates. "Bill and Steve both knew Steven's flaws," said one former senior leader. However, the pair were willing to dismiss their worries as he fixed the problems within the Windows group after the launch of Windows Vista.
According to one former senior executive, Sinofsky had threatened to quit his position more than once due to strategic decisions not going his way. "They bet on Steven and they kept betting bigger and bigger," the ex-employee claimed.
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Top Microsoft executives who clashed with Sinofsky and then lost left the firm such as the likes of former Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie and former Server and Tools Division President Bob Muglia.
Ballmer's memo regarding Sinofsky's departure saw the CEO stating that in order for Microsoft to continue to be successful, "it is imperative that we continue to drive alignment across all Microsoft teams, and have more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offerings." Steven Sinofsky also sent his own memo to all Microsoft employees.
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FYI he was super against Metro and the removal of the start bar. Ballmer wanted the OS to be dumbed down and more "Mac like"Reply
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lpedraja2002 The man who fixed Vista and had Windows 7 under his credentials according to other info I read is a huge loss for Microsoft considering that they now need him the most to fix the awful fragmentation that exists on Windows 8 between its Metro and Desktop interaction.Reply -
Onus I wonder if Sinofsky would return if Ballmer got the axe...sounds like that would be a better outcome for Windows.Reply
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WyomingKnott icrosoft CEO Steve Ballmer is said to have let go of Steven Sinofsky, former president of Microsoft's Windows and Windows Live division, as he was too divisive
Was the wordplay on division/divisive unintentional? If he's president of division, he should be divisive. -
svdb He entered MS as a programmer and for years they kept promoting him all the way up to the top and only noticed recently he "didn't work well with others"? What a load of crap...Reply -
lamorpa Well at least he got the fool Ray Ozzie out. The guy's claim to fame was riding Lotus 123 into the ground and then jumping ship on his Groove Networks employees leaving them with nothing.Reply -
jacobdrj From this, I gather that Sinofsky was still in the mindset of independent Microsoft Business Groups required by the US Government Oversight that started with the loss of the Anti-Trust case for embedded IE in Windows. Since this Government Oversight has been lifted, the idea was to push Microsoft to become integrated top to bottom full team ahead, and Sinofsky's vision clashed with that... He took Windows 7 in a bubble, and made it awesome by taking the best parts of Vista and incorporating it into a lean mean OS machine... But Windows 8 should have been all about a fully integrated experience between phone, tablet, desktop and more. It does not appear like this was a success...Reply -
freggo m217866666FYI he was super against Metro and the removal of the start bar. Ballmer wanted the OS to be dumbed down and more "Mac like"Reply
That's exactly what I was thinking first.
Boos has one idea, division chief a different one.
If both are the Type 'A' personality (and bosses usually are) you have
a problem. And we all know who is going to win that every time.
That's the Golden Rule of business, who, who has the Gold, rules :)