Responding to the changing competitive landscape, Microsoft is once again shuffling its management and reorganizing its divisions. Reporting to CEO Steve Balmer will be three presidents. Kevin Johnson will oversee the new Platform Products and Services business (Windows, MSN, and developer tools). Jeff Raikes will continue to oversee the newly-named Business division (Office and Business Solutions). Robbie Bach will head up Entertainment and Devices (Xbox and Windows Mobile).
Perhaps the biggest shift, though, comes with the announced retirement of Windows chief Jim Allchin (who will continue as co-president, with Johnson, of Platform Products and Services until Windows Vista ships later next year), and the rise of Ray Ozzie as chief technical officer for all three divisions. Allchin was always the biggest champion of Windows and, thus, PC-centric software. Ozzie is tasked with helping Microsoft shift to more of a Web-based software-as-a-service strategy.
Waiting five years between major revisions of Windows threatens to put Microsoft at a competitive disadvantage when Web-based software companies like Google and Salesforce.com can upgrade their software and add new features on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis. If Ozzie can figure out a way to combine the power of Microsoft's PC-based applications (Windows and Office) with the flexibility and network effects of its Web-based applications (MSN), he can help Microsoft maintain its industry status as biggest dog on the porch.
Author: Erick Schonfeld
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