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A new Windows Business Group will be headed by Bill Veghte, a 17-year Microsoft veteran who has been serving as corporate vice president overseeing North American sales. Windows development remains under Steven Sinofsky, with both Sinofsky and Veghte reporting to Kevin Johnson, who leads the unit that oversees both Windows and Windows Live.
The move, along with several other changes in the Windows marketing and product management ranks, is the latest in an ongoing restructuring at Microsoft that began in September 2005, with the company reordering itself from five business units to three and announcing the retirement of Jim Allchin. Allchin retired at the end of January.
Mike Sievert, who had been heading product marketing and product management, will now focus solely on the marketing side, while Mike Nash will take over product management. Sievert, who joined Microsoft from AT&T Wireless in 2005, and Nash, who headed Microsoft's security business unit until a recent sabbatical, will both report to Veghte. Brad Goldberg, who has been general manager of product management for Windows, is shifting to another unspecified role outside of the Windows unit but within Kevin Johnson's Platform and Services Division.
Also reporting to Veghte are Will Poole, who is heading Windows' market expansion efforts for emerging markets and new types of PCs, and Joe Peterson, who is leading the unit charged with online distribution and the Windows Genuine advantage antipiracy effort.
The latest organizational changes come less than a month after Windows Vista hit store shelves.
See more CNET content tagged:
product management, Kevin Johnson, Jim Allchin, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows
I hope MS fixes it's ways, or there be hell to pay.
I hope MS fixes it's ways, or there be hell to pay.
It could be titled "The worst day with a Mac is better than the best day with a PC".
It could be titled "The worst day with a Mac is better than the best day with a PC".
And, based upon Microsofts obvious-problems, I would expect to see many more examples of their, increasingly-visible, desperation in the near future.
Based upon typical corporate-behavior, evidence of this will most probably include an increasing number of; internal power-shifts, SPIN-campaigns, increased advertising-expenditures, and a continuous string of "reorganizations", and, alleged, "re-purposings".
But, I, personally, seriously doubt that, in the end, Microsoft will actually be able to effectively alter their fundamental corporate-culture (based upon their previous, and still clearly ongoing, apparent inability to actually produce viably-competitive products, within a truly open-marketplace).
Its truly sad, but, it appears that Microsoft is finally, seriously, beginning to reap the results of its decades of consumer, and industry, abuses, arrogance, and genuinely lack-luster, over-priced, products.
Of course, Microsoft does still have billions of dollars and many, capable, engineers... However, the real problem, within Microsoft, has always been their business-practices, and the effect that their underlying market-strategies have had on their product-priorities, and behavior...
Frankly, the term- spoiled-bullies, ...comes to mind.
Id, honestly, like to think that Microsoft -could- turn itself around. But, as an IT professional, with decades of experience, ...charged with making long-term IT-infrastructure recommendations, ...my suggestion is to hope for the best (Microsoft, finally, will straighten itself out), ...but, ...plan for the worst (plan on maintaining a robust IT-infrastructure, without relying on Microsoft-technologies remaining a core-component of the computer-industry).
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter.
And, based upon Microsofts obvious-problems, I would expect to see many more examples of their, increasingly-visible, desperation in the near future.
Based upon typical corporate-behavior, evidence of this will most probably include an increasing number of; internal power-shifts, SPIN-campaigns, increased advertising-expenditures, and a continuous string of "reorganizations", and, alleged, "re-purposings".
But, I, personally, seriously doubt that, in the end, Microsoft will actually be able to effectively alter their fundamental corporate-culture (based upon their previous, and still clearly ongoing, apparent inability to actually produce viably-competitive products, within a truly open-marketplace).
Its truly sad, but, it appears that Microsoft is finally, seriously, beginning to reap the results of its decades of consumer, and industry, abuses, arrogance, and genuinely lack-luster, over-priced, products.
Of course, Microsoft does still have billions of dollars and many, capable, engineers... However, the real problem, within Microsoft, has always been their business-practices, and the effect that their underlying market-strategies have had on their product-priorities, and behavior...
Frankly, the term- spoiled-bullies, ...comes to mind.
Id, honestly, like to think that Microsoft -could- turn itself around. But, as an IT professional, with decades of experience, ...charged with making long-term IT-infrastructure recommendations, ...my suggestion is to hope for the best (Microsoft, finally, will straighten itself out), ...but, ...plan for the worst (plan on maintaining a robust IT-infrastructure, without relying on Microsoft-technologies remaining a core-component of the computer-industry).
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter.
Besides the three Macs in my house running OSX I also own and use a Windows PC laptop solely to run a marine charting software program available only for PC's. The laptop is presently running XP Pro, gets the job done and doesn't crash too often. I will not be upgrading to Vista because I absolutely refuse to buy other MS products -- not because I have a poor opinion of Windows as a capable operating system or believe MS apps to be inferior --- but rather because as a matter of principle I believe MS is a monopolistic, arrogant and abusive corporation.
I agree 100% with Gayle Edwards description that "the real problem, within Microsoft, has always been their business-practices, and the effect that their underlying market-strategies have had on their product-priorities, and behavior... frankly, the term- spoiled-bullies, ...comes to mind ... its truly sad, but, it appears that Microsoft is finally, seriously, beginning to reap the results of its decades of consumer, and industry, abuses, arrogance, and genuinely lack-luster, over-priced, products.
Thank you Gayle Edwards for saying in print something I have long felt about MS. Especially the part about abuse and arrogance.
As an aside to the main topic here, I have long felt that MS was able to come out of the anti trust suit by the feds as well as they did a few years ago not because of the merits of their case but, because of the buckets of cash available to them, they were well able to afford a better legal team than the U.S. Justice Dept. IMO, MS is continuing to abuse their monopoly position in the desktop OS market.
MS does not need to shakeup their Windows marketing unit -- they need to establish a Corporate Ethics in Business unit, fire Steve Ballmer and others of his ilk and get some people aboard who are truly honest and innovative. Money and monopolistic power have corrupted MS.
- My $0.02
- by Chuck37 February 27, 2007 10:38 PM PST
- Gayle Edwards comment on this story is an interesting perspective from an IT professional. Here is a similar perspective from a typical home/casual computer user who has used a Mac since 1989 to surf the internet, exchange email messages and used non-MS word processors and spreadsheet programs for light duty personal use.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(14 Comments)Besides the three Macs in my house running OSX I also own and use a Windows PC laptop solely to run a marine charting software program available only for PC's. The laptop is presently running XP Pro, gets the job done and doesn't crash too often. I will not be upgrading to Vista because I absolutely refuse to buy other MS products -- not because I have a poor opinion of Windows as a capable operating system or believe MS apps to be inferior --- but rather because as a matter of principle I believe MS is a monopolistic, arrogant and abusive corporation.
I agree 100% with Gayle Edwards description that "the real problem, within Microsoft, has always been their business-practices, and the effect that their underlying market-strategies have had on their product-priorities, and behavior... frankly, the term- spoiled-bullies, ...comes to mind ... its truly sad, but, it appears that Microsoft is finally, seriously, beginning to reap the results of its decades of consumer, and industry, abuses, arrogance, and genuinely lack-luster, over-priced, products.
Thank you Gayle Edwards for saying in print something I have long felt about MS. Especially the part about abuse and arrogance.
As an aside to the main topic here, I have long felt that MS was able to come out of the anti trust suit by the feds as well as they did a few years ago not because of the merits of their case but, because of the buckets of cash available to them, they were well able to afford a better legal team than the U.S. Justice Dept. IMO, MS is continuing to abuse their monopoly position in the desktop OS market.
MS does not need to shakeup their Windows marketing unit -- they need to establish a Corporate Ethics in Business unit, fire Steve Ballmer and others of his ilk and get some people aboard who are truly honest and innovative. Money and monopolistic power have corrupted MS.