Newsbrief: Now that Microsoft's Surface tablet and Windows 8 are out the door, so is the man who spearheaded development of both products.
Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows Division, has left Microsoft after 23 years with the company, AllThingsD confirmed. The official company line from CEO Steve Ballmer is that Sinofsky "decided to leave the company," though AllThingsD reported tension between Sinofsky and other execs that may have contributed to his departure.
Windows 8 and Surface have become significant points of interest and debate in the game development community, as Microsoft attempts to navigate a market that's seeing slowing PC sales and growing mobile hardware adoption. Both Surface and Windows 8 shipped in late October.
I take it you've already made a product for the MS app store and been denied or are you yet another person talking shit about something you haven't yet experienced?
the only division at MS that didn't get stuck in 2000 has lost its head ... may we get the same from the office team so whoever decided that supporting live tiles is a no go even in office 2013 can go out and wash cars instead of doing abysmal decisions of global scale in the future?
I think the term I've heard Sinofsky described as most often is uncompromising. And say what you want about him as a person, his accomplishments with office and win7 were stellar. Win8 compared to Win7 is a mess in terms of providing a slick unified dev environment and user experience on the desktop, and not something I imagine a perfectionist like Sinofsky is overly happy about.
My guess, and it is only a guess, is that Sinofsky did what he was told wrt to win8 development in stead of his usually M.O., which is to follow his own path. He did this with the promise of being named Ballmer's successor. As win8 entered the final phases, that promise was withdrawn for whatever reason, and so Sinofsky stuck it out so he could see the Frankenstien win8 to completion because he is a professional.
Once that was done, there was no reason to stay as Win8 wasn't his vision, and the CEO job wasn't going to happen.
This seems like a very likely scenario, while I don't really have an issue with Windows 8's metro UI it still does seem more like a business decision (ie Balmer) then a programing decision (ie Sinofsky).
Yeah, the sleepless nights ahead for him . . .
Who the fuck am I arguing with?
Forget it.
My guess, and it is only a guess, is that Sinofsky did what he was told wrt to win8 development in stead of his usually M.O., which is to follow his own path. He did this with the promise of being named Ballmer's successor. As win8 entered the final phases, that promise was withdrawn for whatever reason, and so Sinofsky stuck it out so he could see the Frankenstien win8 to completion because he is a professional.
Once that was done, there was no reason to stay as Win8 wasn't his vision, and the CEO job wasn't going to happen.