Steven Sinofsky

How Steve Ballmer is trying to reshape Microsoft

The sudden departure of powerful Windows boss Steven Sinofsky this week is the first step in a plan by CEO Steve Ballmer to remodel Microsoft as a much more integrated operation in an attempt to take on Apple and Google at their own game.

After nearly 13 years at the helm of the world's largest software maker, which just launched its first own-brand computer, sources inside the company say Sinofsky's departure signals Ballmer's new-found focus on co-operation between its self-sufficient - and sometimes warring - units.

"What I'm hearing over and over is collaboration and horizontal integration is the new mantra," said one Microsoft insider, who asked not to be named. "They (top management) understand that, if they don't move to a model where devices and software are more integrated across the entire Microsoft system, they are in a weak position."

After floundering for most of the last decade, Microsoft is trying emulate the way Apple's software and hardware - such as iTunes and the iPhone - work perfectly together; or how Google's online suite from Web search to YouTube and Gmail are seamlessly joined....more    

Windows chief Steven Sinofsky leaves in power struggle

San Francisco: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer isn't going to let anyone get in his way. Not even his presumed heir apparent, who runs the software maker's Windows empire, can stop Ballmer as he pushes the company in a new direction. That was the underlying message of a power struggle that led to the abrupt departure of Steven Sinofsky, who oversaw the Windows operating system that has been the foundation of...  

Microsoft's Windows unit head Steven Sinofsky resigns

Seattle: The executive most widely tipped to be the next chief executive of Microsoft Corp has left the world's largest software company, barely two weeks after launching the flagship Windows 8 and Microsoft's first ever own-brand computer. The departure of 23-year company veteran Steven Sinofsky, head of Microsoft's Windows unit, was unexpected and neither Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer nor Sinofsky gave an explanation, although a senior executive at the company,...  

Microsoft lines up its big swing at tablets

Seattle: Next week a high-ranking Microsoft Corp executive will stand on stage and show off a new version of Windows on a tablet computer. It won't be the first time. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer did it last year. Co-founder Bill Gates did it 10 years ago. This time, when Windows chief Steven Sinofsky shows off an early version of its next touch-enabled, tablet-friendly operating system - code-named Windows 8 -...