Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft

This is a stunning development and most of MSFT is probably in shock right now.<p>It's hard to overstate the scope and influence Sinofsky had at MSFT. This was a man widely expected to be the next CEO and he had impact way outside his organization (the 'Sinofsky-ization of teams').<p>Also, his stock was rising inside MSFT (when you stay inside the company long enough, you can sense which executives are in trouble and which ones are going up).<p>This is a unexpected move which is going to change Microsoft at a deep level.

Ouch.<p>I never worked in one of Sinofski's orgs, but I know quite a few people who did. I got the impression that a lot of old timers and under-performers disliked him. Most of the people that I really respected liked him. From my perspective, that's the best kind of "divisive figure" to have.<p>Maybe he pushed too hard...

This is really really sad. Everyone must be very disappointed (Especially mini-microsoft).<p>And the new head is a PM..heading windows engineering.<p>More on Julie from Mary Jo:<p>[1]"Larson-Green applied to Microsoft right after she got her business management degree from Western Washington University, only to be told no. But she did land a job at desktop-publishing-software maker Aldus working on the product support call lines.<p>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.""<p>[1]<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/who-is-julie-larson-green-meet-the-new-head-of-windows-7000007292/" rel="nofollow">http://www.zdnet.com/who-is-julie-larson-green-meet-the-new-...</a><p>Looks like the beginning of the end to me.<p>On a conspiracy note, is Ballmer kicking out all his potential competitors?

<i>Sinofsky, though seen as highly talented, was viewed at the top levels as not the kind of team player that the company was looking for.</i><p>Dear lord. This sounds like something from Office Space. What exactly is the kind of "team player" the company is looking for?

Good riddance. I left the company because I didn't want to deal with his idea of an ideal organization. I figured he was a shoe-in for CEO and it was just time until everyone was under him. Unfortunately I think he leaves a large trail behind him- too many lower-level people saw no chance to escape his way of doing things other than to leave the company.

Surface RT selling modestly due to limited distribution and poor reviews for RT itself.<p>The hardware seems solid (I finally tried one tonight with both covers), but popping into the Desktop ruins the experience for people who only want Metro. (Me, I want full Win 8, so it matters a bit less to me... but breaking the Metro experience is still jarring.)<p>OTOH, although I've heard of Metro app numbers increasing, there's clearly a lonnnng way yet to go for it.<p>If all this is being pinned on Sinofsky, it's very short-sighted on Ballmer's part. With the legacy restrictions he had to deal with, I think Sinfosky did a very good job for a 1.0 product and the promise is there.

CNET did an excellent write up on Sinofsky just last month <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57536905-75/steven-sinofsky-microsofts-controversial-mr-windows-8/" rel="nofollow">http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57536905-75/steven-sinofsk...</a>

I worked for Microsoft for 4 years - this is a HUGE surprise to me. Most of the people I know who worked in his orgs were proud to work under his direction.<p>I thought he would replace Balmer eventually.

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-next-ceo-of-microsoft-steven-sinofsky-is-the-heir-apparent-2012-2" rel="nofollow">http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-next-ceo-of-microsof...</a><p>Sinofsky was just too popular? Ballmer's CEO position is not sacrosanct. Some internal guy being a prominent public figure is the biggest risk for him i guess.

Interesting. Sinofsky was, along with J Allard, supposed to be one of the product visionaries capable of filling the gap Gates left. When Allard left, and Microsoft put its weight behind the "unified Windows" approach instead of the Courier concept, it was thought that Sinofsky "won".<p>Now it appears they both lost.

I always thought that Sinofsky was a driving force behind some of the changes that preceded Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. This comes as a great surprise to me and I hesitate to think who would be in a good position to follow him (and ultimately who would fill Ballmer's shoes in the company).

Canonical should grab him for Ubuntu. Even if he was only there for a year, it would be a great transition for him. If things didn't work out, he could always just say the company wasn't ready for him.<p>However, if it worked, Ubuntu could take over Windows for the enterprise in only a few years. Now is the time to strike while the iron is hot.<p>Of course, they couldn't pay him all that much but the upside is tremendous.

Here's Sinofsky's letter to employees on his departure <a href="http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-leadership-changes-part-2" rel="nofollow">http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-leadership-changes...</a><p>He states that it was a personal decision to leave now, disputing the rumors that he was fired. Although offcourse that doesn't mean he wasn't being pushed.

"Nobody wants to be dubbed the future king while the current king is still on the throne. It’s the quickest way to the dungeon."<p>Read more: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-next-ceo-of-microsoft-steven-sinofsky-is-the-heir-apparent-2012-2#ixzz2C4fOqBTv" rel="nofollow">http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-next-ceo-of-microsof...</a>

This is quite a surprise. As someone who worked on Windows for five years after undergrad and catching the tail end of Vista, people were thrilled when he was brought on board for Windows 7.<p>As a low level peon, I respected how he could get the org to ship on time. I think he'll be missed.

I am not sure what that means at the moment but he was a strong man in the company so that he even prevented Xbox and Windows Phone divisions to develop an OS other than Windows. He was also being called as the next CEO of the company. I am not sure if that has anything to do with Win8. He was working at the company since 1989. (I was born in that year)

Ballmer reminds of Stalin - remove the smart guys around you, so he does not feel threatened. Okay, that's quite an overstatement, but it feels that way to me.

Along with the departure of Ray Ozzie (thank goodness!), this actually makes Cringely's suggestion -- <a href="http://www.cringely.com/2012/10/28/steve-ballmers-dilemma/" rel="nofollow">http://www.cringely.com/2012/10/28/steve-ballmers-dilemma/</a> tl;dr that Microsoft simply milk its cash cow for as long as it can and then turn into an investment fund -- seem like it may actually happen.

I can't help but wonder if Forstall (Apple) and Sinofsky (MS) are two men who would have been strong, maybe even visionary leaders had they been allowed to reach the position of CEO at either company. I tend to feel that Jobs only made CEO because he had also been founder and ex-CEO, and had a certain cachet from that.

I hope this means that they start doing more .NET again, instead of going back to COM.

"Andy Rubin is sweating right now." — @llsethj

Reading between the lines here - for him to be fired, it must indicate that signs are pointing that Win 8 will be a dud release, similar to Vista. Sigh.

I think the message here from Forstall and Sinofsky is no matter how talented you are, if you're a dick it will come back and bite you.<p>Being smart and nice will get you further than just being smart.

I predict the Start button will make a return.

If Sinofsky turns out to be in Cupertino tomorrow, then it would complete the recent drama.

Scott Guthrie for CEO!!!!

I soo wish the firms would give out more than boilerplate in such cases. If only we knew the actual reason... Now we're forced to speculate.

If this means less or no more Metro in Windows 9, that seems like great news to me.

its so sad. it's clear that nobody can save Microsoft from Ballmer now that the ONE guy that can actually execute is gone.

I know the reaction for Windows 8 and the Surface has been trepid but I would've thought he would have been safe given his pedigree within Microsoft.

Anyone think Microsoft will be announcing Scott Forstall joining the company next? Sort of like the Marissa Meyer announcement for Yahoo?

Wait, Apple fired their top software guy and MSFT's top software guy leaves. Why does this sound like Sinofsky is heading to Apple?

it's enough to extract one final post from minimsft <a href="http://minimsft.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/a-microsoft-without-sinofsky.html" rel="nofollow">http://minimsft.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/a-microsoft-without-...</a>

I hate Microsoft. I hate politics. I hate Microsoft politics twice as much.

I was expecting Ballmer to be fired (for his last statement on Surface sales being modest) rather than Sinofsky. Maybe the sales are actually modest and Sinofsky is somehow responsible?

So I've always wondered what happens to you as a human when you're effectively fired from a high level, high visibility position. How does Sinofsky feel right now, emotionally? How does he feel professionally? Is this something someone shakes off as differences between opinionated guys in an organization? Or is this something that rocks him to his core? Does he go for another job right away? Or does he write a book and retire?<p>I have absolutely no perspective on this issue and often wonder what it's like.

it only means one thing :<p>Surface / WindowsRT / Windows8 = "big failure".<p>Not so long ago , he was seen as the next Microsoft boss , but firing him wont solve Microsoft problems , Ballmer is the problem.

Am I the only one who has never heard of this guy?