Windows 8 creator Steven Sinofsky resigns from Microsoft

Sinofsky replaced by the creator of the Microsoft Office 'ribbon' interface...

Steven Sinofsky, the Microsoft executive in charge of the development of Windows 8 and widely regarded as the future successor to CEO Steve Ballmer, has resigned from the company. He was also responsible for leading the development of Windows 7, salvaging the operating system following the disaster of Windows Vista, launched in 2006.

Before that, he had been responsible for building up the Microsoft Office division, which is one of the two mainstays of Microsoft's revenues.

Sinofsky is leaving with immediate effect, indicating a new bout of infighting within the software giant. Windows executives Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller will take expanded roles.

Larson-Green has been promoted to lead all Windows software and hardware engineering, while chief financial officer Tami Reller will remain CFO and chief marketing officer, and will also assume responsibility for the business of Windows. Both executives will report directly to Ballmer, Microsoft said in a statement released late on Monday.

Sinofsky had been president of the Windows Division at Microsoft from July 2009 through to his resignation yesterday.

There is a wide degree of speculation over the reasons for Sinofsky's departure. An abrasive, polarising figure, according to a source quoted by Business Insider, Sinofsky had demanded the CEO role from Ballmer and threatened to quit if he did not get his way.

However, he had also put a number of noses out of joint in his ascent up the Microsoft corporate ladder and did not work well with other business heads at Microsoft. He had been responsible for centralising development teams, enabling him to release products to deadline, but reducing their creative input at the same time.

The abrupt departure of Sinofsky came as a surprise to staff. "People walking the hallways tonight at work certainly can't believe it. I can't believe it – working at a Microsoft without Sinofsky? Inconceivable," wrote Microsoft staff blogger 'Mini-Microsoft'.

The comments left underneath the blog, though, were not necessarily complimentary – about either Sinofsky or Larson-Green. "Good riddance, Mr. Sinofsky. Unfortunately for MS, Julie Larson-Green makes the man look like a genius," wrote one commenter.

Wrote another: "God, not Larson-Green, she is so short-sighted and never original. Good riddance to Steve Sinofsky. Wish we could add Ballmer to the list. How many chances do the board of directors give Steve B? Spineless folks pocketing Microsoft $$$$$."

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Windows 8 creator Steven Sinofsky resigns from Microsoft

Sinofsky replaced by the creator of the Microsoft Office 'ribbon' interface...

Another added: "Microsoft needs to do some long overdue house cleaning across the board. First thing they need to do is get a UI Czar that does a better job than the stupid Metro 2D sesame street primary colour UX [user interface].

"Second, fire some senior leaders in the business teams as well. There are general managers and vice presidents in business and operations groups making over $1m (£600,000) per year. How can this company survive with that sort of burden? Why do we need to pay $1M+ (with benefits) to a vice president in finance, purchasing, customer service and IT? ... We are crazy keeping these dinosaurs on for 15+ years, especially these GMs and VPs from the 1990s. That's why we can't think modern."

Sinofsky joined Microsoft in July 1989 as a software design engineer straight from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he earnt a master's degree in computer science. He was promoted to technical assistant to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates within three years.

In 1999, he became senior vice president of the Office division, becoming senior vice president of Windows and Windows Live in 2006 with a brief to rescue the company from the Windows Vista debacle, before his promotion to president of the Windows division in 2009.

Sinofsky had also been responsible for the unified interface between the 8-series of Windows operating systems, which had been met with both praise and criticism – not least for the number of different incompatible versions running across different devices. Late last week, though, CEO Ballmer had expressed disappointment at sales of the Microsoft Surface device launched at the end of October.

Sinofsky's replacement, Larson-Green, has worked at Microsoft since 1993. She worked on, and led, a number of high-profile products at Microsoft, including the user experience for early versions of Internet Explorer and, according to Microsoft, "helped drive the thinking behind the refresh of the user experience for Microsoft Office" – the much-criticised "ribbon interface".