Top > Webmaster > 2006 > March > 2006-03-27

More Changes from Microsoft

More news from Microsoft following the company`s Vista announcement of last week. After announcing that the consumer edition for their new operating system will not be ready prior to Jan 2007, Microsoft is reconstructing it`s Platforms and Services Division. Three new groups have been added to the division: Windows Live Platform Group, Online Business Group, and Market Expansion Group,

A major reinforcement for the team will be Steven Sinofsky, a Microsoft veteran, which will assume control of creating Windows products, as senior vice president of Windows and Windows Live Group. Sinofsky comes with a reputation for bringing large Microsoft Office projects to fruition. He is credited with leading the design of the shared technologies in Microsoft Office 95 and Microsoft Office 97, as well as the evolution of Office from suite to system. Sinofsky will work closely with Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie and Blake Irving to support Microsoft`s services strategy across the division and company, Microsoft said in a statement.

While many experts have speculated that the changes were triggered by the Vista delay, Jupiter Research` analyst Joe Wilcox said that the timing of the delay and restructuring is coincidental. "There were too many changes for them all to be directly related to the Windows Vista delay," Wilcox said. "I think these changes were in the works regardless of what happened." Johnson said in the statement Microsoft is making the changes to improve and accelerate Windows and MSN development, bring Windows Live technologies to market, and buoy Microsoft`s move into online advertising, where Google and Yahoo loom large.