7 Companies Microsoft ex-Windows Chief Isn't Allowed to Join

By Jane McEntegart
published

Maybe Yahoo! has an opening?

Back in November of last year, Microsoft announced that its Windows and Windows Live President, Steven Sinofsky, would be leaving the company.  Sinofsky was at the helm of Office products and lead the teams on the development of Windows 7 and 8 products. To say he had a pretty big role at Microsoft would be an understatement. In December, Sinofsky announced that he would be returning to Harvard Business School for a teaching position in the spring of 2013. Sinofsky, a 23-year vet at Redmond, no doubt has a lot to teach students at Harvard Business School, but will he stay? According to his Twitter profile, he's currently on sabbatical, and recent reports suggest Sinofsky's options for employment will open up considerably come December. 

Mashable points to an SEC filing from Microsoft that lists the seven companies named in Sinofsky's non-compete agreement. According to the filing, under the terms of his departure, Sinofsky is not allowed to accept 'direct or indirect employment' with Amazon, Apple, EMC, Google, Facebook, Oracle, or VMware.

Not exactly surprising that Microsoft would want to prevent a former employee that spent nearly a quarter century at the company from working for the competition. More interesting, though, is what Sinofsky will do once the non-compete expires. According to the filing, that will happen on December 31 of this year. Where will Sinofsky be in 2014?

Jane McEntegart
20 Comments Comment from the forums
  • swordrage
    He can be my private tutor. My parents will pay him well, I promise...
    Reply
  • Onus
    Hopefully, wherever he is, he will be laughing at Ballmer.
    Reply
  • Giovanni-L
    He should join the Mozilla team! That would bring a good and deserved crush on M$
    Reply
  • ethanolson
    Why not HP? They are Microsoft largest reseller and/or enterprise business referrer. His management skill and understanding of development would fit nicely with HP's vision and management tool division.
    Reply
  • smeezekitty
    Amazon and Facebook wouldn't be significant competition to MS and thus should not be on the list.
    Reply
  • billnotreally
    he destroyed windows internally. made decisions that will ultimately end windows forever. the ideas pushed by his bootlickers helped the competition and made windows fail on their face. he left while the house was burning down where he should have been inside.
    Reply
  • billnotreally
    the agenda he shaped internally is still being used. if you looked at his decisions, its like he already knew he was leaving. he looked like another tim cook on stage. was not ms type at all. he was an apple guy the whole time! his ideas were dumb. he made an ok OS and turned it into a mess. Where win8 actually is worst than win3 They have moved back in every form with his motives. He should have been sued. Sinofsky was the worst manager at MS (period) This is the reason windows sucks, is cause of him. Why care what he does except retirement or teaching students his evil ways.
    Reply
  • digiex
    He will be oven qualified for Google, he had been working for M$ before Google was born.
    Reply
  • WithoutWeakness
    11269015 said:
    Amazon and Facebook wouldn't be significant competition to MS and thus should not be on the list.
    Amazon's cloud-based Web Services platform could absolutely be in competition with Microsoft, especially as MS is starting to move some of their resources in that direction. I do agree that Facebook seems to be an odd one out on that list but they are a massive company money and technology wise and have the resources to move into other markets if they see an opportunity.
    Reply
  • The Grave Digger
    I Hope when MS Fired Ballmer,They Should Let Him Joining EA :D
    Reply