“There were big new departures to be announced.”As we pointed out quite recently, under the mainstream media's nose, some of Microsoft's long-time and most principal executives are leaving the company which secretly struggles. One of the more astonishing cases of spin was last seen just over a week ago when Microsoft in some sense prepared its shareholders for what it had initially chosen to call "reorgs".
Ina Fried, an almost self-professed fan of Microsoft and seemingly a friend of Steve Ballmer, broke (down) the news before anyone else did, even before it went public (with the exception of the Wall Street Journal, which rejects the ideals of open access). There were big new departures to be announced. Here is a fragment of the text:
The move will see three top executives--including two prominent outside hires--out of a job. Leaving the company are: Senior Vice President Steven Berkowitz, the former Ask.com CEO who had been heading Microsoft's online services unit, and Mike Sievert, the former AT&T Wireless executive brought in to run Windows marketing. Both Sievert and Berkowitz had already seen some duties handed off to others at the company and their departures were largely expected.
Also leaving is Pieter Knook, longtime head of Microsoft's Windows Mobile unit.
Press Release Source: Microsoft Corp.
Microsoft Announces New, Expanded Roles for Key Executives
Microsoft's online, mobile phone chiefs depart
The software giant says the management shake up has nothing to do with its proposed buyout of Yahoo.
Did Microsoft lie about top exec's departure?
The departure of Brian Valentine, a 19-year Microsoft veteran before he left in 2006, has always been a bit of a puzzle. In August of that year, Microsoft management told his staff he was taking a new job within the company after shipping Windows Vista. A month later, he left for Amazon.com. Now, Amazon.com has cleared things up with a belated SEC filing: Microsoft lied to its employees.
Michael Sievert, Corporate Vice President for Windows Product Marketing, is moving on, according to multiple sources of mine.
It’s hard to make the case that Sievert, who was responsible for the worldwide introduction of Windows Vista, isn’t being pushed for the less-than-enthusiastic public perception of Microsoft’s latest version of Windows. Even though Microsoft has moved 100-million-plus copies of Vista, many consumers and businesses still consider the new release buggy, sluggish and incompatible with existing software and drivers.