Microsoft Windows Division President Quits After Windows 8 Release

Steven Sinofsky, President of the Microsoft Windows Division, has quit. Sinofsky’s departure, which is effectively immediately, comes just weeks after Windows 8 reached the open market.

Being promoted to the head of the Windows department is Julie Larson-Green.

Sinofsky played a major role in the development of Windows 8, a platform that has received negative feedback from users who find it confusing, bogged down, and outright terrible.

The departed executive had been with Microsoft for 23 years and was promoted to President of the Windows Division in July 2009.

Before his time as President of the Windows platform, Sinofsky works in Microsoft’s Office division and inside the Development Tools group.

In a press release, Sinofsky had this to say:

“I am grateful for the many years of work that Steven has contributed to the company,” Ballmer said. “The products and services we have delivered to the market in the past few months mark the launch of a new era at Microsoft. We’ve built an incredible foundation with new releases of Microsoft Office, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Microsoft Surface, Windows Server 2012 and ‘Halo 4,’ and great integration of services such as Bing, Skype and Xbox across all our products. To continue this success it is imperative that we continue to drive alignment across all Microsoft teams, and have more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offerings.”

Sinofsky then added:

“It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft. I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company.”

In choosing Sinofsky’s replacement, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said:

“Leading Windows engineering is an incredible challenge and opportunity, and as I looked at the technical and business skills required to continue our Windows trajectory — great communication skills, a proven ability to work across product groups, strong design, deep technical expertise, and a history of anticipating and meeting customer needs — it was clear to me that Julie is the best possible person for this job, and I’m excited to have her in this role.”

Let’s not be fooled: This “mutual decision” was likely not as mutual as both groups have claimed.