Bloomberg: Ballmer may name Windows boss as new head of hardware / Xbox

Hmm. That doesn't seem totally clear to me. In the article it seems to suggest that Windows and Windows Phone will be merged into one group under Terry Myerson.

It says Terry would be given the "engineering" responsibility which I don't think means he is head of the division, just head of an internal group that engineers Windows. Julie would still be head of the Windows division otherwise it is a huge, huge demotion for her and a massive promotion for Terry despite WP8 completely and utterly failing in the market.
 
Why? She is going to be the head of HW - there will be most probably a dedicated Xbox boss. It's like saying Ballmer was head of Xbox all the time because he was above Mattrick.

Don't bother buddy most people can't seem to think beyond the first sentence. The way I understand the reorganisation is that there will a 'Boss' of each Division. There will be 4 in total.

The Xbox will fall into the Hardware AND Software/Services division. Xbox will likely get a lead for the entire platform (which we don't know yet) and that lead will answer to the HW & Services 'Bosses'. The purpose of this reorg is so that the ecosystem between all hardware and software has much more synergy is more complete, something that was lacking since W8 and is starting to improve massively with 8.1.

Whether this will be a good thing for Xbox is unknown, it sounds good to me.
 
Why? She is going to be the head of HW - there will be most probably a dedicated Xbox boss. It's like saying Ballmer was head of Xbox all the time because he was above Mattrick.

This is zugzwang for the xbox console. Microsoft no longer cares.
 
Don't bother buddy most people can't seem to think beyond the first sentence. The way I understand the reorganisation is that there will a 'Boss' of each Division. There will be 4 in total.

The Xbox will fall into the Hardware AND Software/Services division. Xbox will likely get a lead for the entire platform (which we don't know yet) and that lead will answer to the HW & Services 'Bosses'. The purpose of this reorg is so that the ecosystem between all hardware and software has much more synergy is more complete, something that was lacking since W8 and is starting to improve massively with 8.1.

Whether this will be a good thing for Xbox is unknown, it sounds good to me.

Splitting one product between two divisions which are presumably competing with each other within the company seems like a really bad idea to me.

lol

The requirements for the Head of Xbox should be:


  • Wears blazer
  • Wears hoodie
  • Shaved head

I would take Vin Diesel as head of Xbox.
 
Is this the Botox lady?

Xbox is dead.

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People are delirious if they think Microsoft will put a "videogame" guy (or girl) in charge of hardware division, which is where the Xbox will be put under after their restructuring.

They need someone with broader qualifications as their job will entail much more than just video games.

Exactly. The next step for Xbox is to make much more money by cross-selling products. A games only person is not needed here.
 
Edit: holy shit, just read Julie's bio - sounds like she could have been responsible for the piece of shit that is the Office ribbon?
Edit: holy shit, just read Julie's bio - sounds like she could have been responsible for the piece of shit that is the Office ribbon?
Edit: holy shit, just read Julie's bio - sounds like she could have been responsible for the piece of shit that is the Office ribbon?
Edit: holy shit, just read Julie's bio - sounds like she could have been responsible for the piece of shit that is the Office ribbon?
Edit: holy shit, just read Julie's bio - sounds like she could have been responsible for the piece of shit that is the Office ribbon?

yes
 
If you've got any insight into the absolute turmoil Microsoft is in right now, and the complete panic they have about falling sales of desktops and the failure of any product to get a foothold and compete with Apple & Google......... it really is no surprise at all.

I work with a few MS guys, morale is rock-fucking-bottom, upper-management are all shitting themselves and trying anything to get the graphs going back up.
Their main source of income is MS Office which I believe is still doing fine, no?
 
Doesn't really send a lot of confidence that they are doing this kind of reshuffle before the platform launches. This looks like it could sidetrack Xbox even further from core gaming.

Personally, I think the best thing for the industry would be for the Xbox business to be made into a spinoff company.

What is this have to do with "core gaming"?
She will close every MS game studios?Or fire Phil Spencer suddenly?
 
Here's some background on Julie:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/exec/larsongreen/default.aspx

Julie Larson-Green leads Windows product development at Microsoft Corp. Leading a team of technical engineers, her responsibilities include program management, design, research, development and testing across all international releases of Windows, Internet Explorer, Windows Services and Surface as well as Microsoft Hardware.

Larson-Green joined Microsoft in 1993 and has focused on technical design and development throughout her career. As a program manager in Development Tools and Languages, she was instrumental in several releases of Visual C++ for 32-bit operating systems and led the development of Microsoft's first customizable integrated development environment for Windows. Moving to the Windows team, she was responsible for the Internet Explorer 3.0 and Internet Explorer 4.0 user experiences, including features related to the Web-integrated Windows desktop.

Continuing her focus on end-user software, Larson-Green joined the Office team in 1997 and led program management for Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft FrontPage, including the early work in information worker servers. More recently, she has been responsible for leading the user interface design for Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Office 2003 and the 2007 Microsoft Office system, which was lauded for its innovative reinvention of the user experience for productivity software. Before Windows 8, Larson-Green served as corporate vice president of Windows Experience for Windows 7, charged with leading the design and development of the Windows 7 operating system.

Before joining Microsoft, Larson-Green was a senior development engineer at a Seattle-based company that created leading desktop publishing software. She has a master's degree in software engineering from Seattle University and a bachelor's degree in business administration from Western Washington University. A native of Washington state, she lives there with her husband, who is a university professor, and her two children.



I think Mattrick had more relevant previous experience running Xbox.
 
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http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/exec/slt.aspx

Posted this in the Mattrick thread.


I find it odd they won't have a dedicated exec for "entertainment" for things like Xbox, music and film services - I imagine Mattrick had some reign of that before.



Edit: holy shit, just read Julie's bio - sounds like she could have been responsible for the piece of shit that is the Office ribbon?

Chef people officer = Human resources, human relations?
 
What is this have to do with "core gaming"?
She will close every MS game studios?Or fire Phil Spencer suddenly?

She will shift the vision to making xbox just another thing under windows, will treat it like their windows phones and bring less hardcore games?, I know Mattrick was a guy who was the main reason xbox got exclusives by any means, this lady doesnt have the connections like Donny.
 
Don't bother buddy most people can't seem to think beyond the first sentence. The way I understand the reorganisation is that there will a 'Boss' of each Division. There will be 4 in total.

The Xbox will fall into the Hardware AND Software/Services division. Xbox will likely get a lead for the entire platform (which we don't know yet) and that lead will answer to the HW & Services 'Bosses'. The purpose of this reorg is so that the ecosystem between all hardware and software has much more synergy is more complete, something that was lacking since W8 and is starting to improve massively with 8.1.

Whether this will be a good thing for Xbox is unknown, it sounds good to me.

Yupp - there is still a chance for J. Allard's comeback. :)
 
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is likely to unveil his plans to restructure the tech giant to a larger group of senior execs around the beginning of July.

That prospect has many top managers at the company worried, since Ballmer has been making these significant plans with limited consultation with the wider leadership group at the software giant.

It is not a coincidence that Mattrick left a few days ago, it was rumored by a few tech sites that Mattrick would be offered this position, either they got their rumors wrong, or Mattrick declined to take up the position. There were many rumors months ago that he would be the new EA CEO, so rumors of him leaving have been around for a while.
 
What is this have to do with "core gaming"?
She will close every MS game studios?Or fire Phil Spencer suddenly?

It signals to me a bigger focus on broad entertainment, moving even more into "TV TV TV" territory, as well as Windows and second screen integration, of dubious worth to core gamers.

Sure, Spencer will still be around and keep doing a good job, but possibly not be allowed to invest as much going forward, or even downsize what he's doing (like they did after launch last gen).
 
She will shift the vision to making xbox just another thing under windows, will treat it like their windows phones and bring less hardcore games?, I know Mattrick was a guy who was the main reason xbox got exclusives by any means, this lady doesnt have the connections like Donny.
No,that's Phil Spencer's job now

It signals to me a bigger focus on broad entertainment, moving even more into "TV TV TV" territory.

Sure, Spencer will still be around and keep doing a good job, but possibly not be allowed to invest as much going forward, or even downsize what he's doing (like they did after launch last gen).
While she's not "gaming" woman,she's also not "entertainment" woman
So why it will become more "TV TV TV"?if anything,wasn't it should be more "windows windows windows" or "office office office"?
 
Just name somebody! Why leave so many doors open for speculation like the XBONE word-of-mouth mishap?
Just name someone? This isn't a school sports team, it is a multi billion dollar business you don't just pick someone with a snap decision.

I mean heck, EA has been without a CEO for nearly three months now.
 
I was hoping for someone more gaming oriented. Then again I really have no clue about this person so maybe it's too early to say what direction Xbox might take.

Few people in the high levels of the industry are more gaming oriented than Mattrick.

But I agree, I don't know anything about this person, maybe an outsider can shake things up.
 
Hmm this wouldn't be bad. The flaws about Surface are goals Microsoft set with the software. The hardware is very slick and the only problem it had was how pricy the components ended up being relative to the tablet market.

What does being in charge of "hardware engineering" even mean for the Xbox One at this point? Surely it's all set in stone by now?

Sure the specs are set in stone but that doesn't mean you can't fiddle with new engineering/manufacturing techniques to make the components cheaper over time.
 
Imma wait this out until it's official.

Suffice it to say I'm not too sure I like where this is going if this rumour is true.
 
Hmm this wouldn't be bad. The flaws about Surface are goals Microsoft set with the software. The hardware is very slick and the only problem it had was how pricy the components ended up being relative to the tablet market.

Sounds like you just described the Xbox One in some ways.
 
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