Micros-oft Corp. announced a shake-up on Thursday of the unit that includes its flagship Windows operating system, two days after the company admitted it won’t have its next consumer version of Windows ready for the holiday season as planned.
Under the changes, Micro-soft said Steven Sinofsky, a high-ranking executive currently in charge of developing many of the company’s Office business products, will lead a new group that includes Windows and Windows Live, a key effort to provide more Web-based offerings.
Microsoft said Mr Sinofsky will focus on planning future versions of Windows, while outgoing Windows executive Jim Allchin will work closely with another Microsoft executive, Brian Valentine, to finish the long-delayed Windows Vista.
Microsoft also said Ben Fathi, a Windows executive currently working on storage and file systems, will replace Mike Nash as head of its Security Technology Unit. Mr Nash will take on another, as yet unannounced role at Microsoft.
Security issues were among the reasons for the delay in Windows Vista. But Kevin Johnson, co-president of the unit that is being reorganised, said Mr Nash’s departure from that job is unrelated.
The Redmond-based software maker said the restructuring is aimed at improving its online strategy, making quicker decisions without going through layers of executive approval, and responding more nimbly to growing threats from online competitors.
Companies such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. are fast developing Internet-based products for such things as sending e-mail or storing photos, and these free services threaten Microsoft’s desktop-bound Windows and other products. Micro-soft has responded with a beefed-up online effort of its own, Windows Live. The reorganisation also will create a group to focus on the engineering of new online products, and another to ha-ndle business functions, su-ch as marketing and advertising sales. Other groups will work on the core operating system and on servers and software tools. (AP)
Under the changes, Micro-soft said Steven Sinofsky, a high-ranking executive currently in charge of developing many of the company’s Office business products, will lead a new group that includes Windows and Windows Live, a key effort to provide more Web-based offerings.
Microsoft said Mr Sinofsky will focus on planning future versions of Windows, while outgoing Windows executive Jim Allchin will work closely with another Microsoft executive, Brian Valentine, to finish the long-delayed Windows Vista.
Microsoft also said Ben Fathi, a Windows executive currently working on storage and file systems, will replace Mike Nash as head of its Security Technology Unit. Mr Nash will take on another, as yet unannounced role at Microsoft.
Security issues were among the reasons for the delay in Windows Vista. But Kevin Johnson, co-president of the unit that is being reorganised, said Mr Nash’s departure from that job is unrelated.
The Redmond-based software maker said the restructuring is aimed at improving its online strategy, making quicker decisions without going through layers of executive approval, and responding more nimbly to growing threats from online competitors.
Companies such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. are fast developing Internet-based products for such things as sending e-mail or storing photos, and these free services threaten Microsoft’s desktop-bound Windows and other products. Micro-soft has responded with a beefed-up online effort of its own, Windows Live. The reorganisation also will create a group to focus on the engineering of new online products, and another to ha-ndle business functions, su-ch as marketing and advertising sales. Other groups will work on the core operating system and on servers and software tools. (AP)