Microsoft may have released Windows 8, but its launch has been followed by the departure of Steven Sinofsky from the company. Sinofsky took over the Windows and Windows Live division of Microsoft back in 2006, and has overseen some of the most radical changes to the world’s most popular operating system. He took over shortly after the launch of the not quite successful Windows Vista, and took the company to launch Windows 7 in 2009, and more recently, Windows 8.
Sources speculate that his exit could be driven by his frequent clashes with other senior executives at Microsoft, but the company’s release states his departure as a mutual decision. Julie-Larson Green will take on software and hardware engineering responsibilities of Sinofsky, while Tami Reller will take over the business of Windows 8. Reller is also the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft.
Sinofsky’s exit from Microsoft has come as a surprise to many, especially at a time when rumors of him taking over from Steve Ballmer as the CEO were doing the rounds. However, analysts agree that Sinofsky’s inability to coordinate with other Microsoft teams could have let do this move. A clear case of this was during the making of Microsoft Surface, which required collaboration across hardware, software, Office, Xbox, Bing, Skype, and other teams.
