Echoing my earlier comments about Windows Vista being a train wreck, Microsoft group vice president Jim Allchin walked into chairman Bill Gates' office in July 2004 and told him that the software project was horribly behind schedule and would never get caught up. 'It's not going to work,' he said, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The problem was that Vista was too complicated, and Microsoft's age-old methods for developing software just weren't going to be good enough,
Quotes about allchin (4 Quotes)
To explain this change to employees, Microsoft hosted an internal event with CEO Steve Ballmer, chairman Bill Gates, Johnson, Allchin, Raikes, and Bach. Most of the discussion and Q A that happened that day is largely irrelevant to Nexus readers, but the company did take one impromptu question about competition with Apple Computer that I thought you'd enjoy. Here's a transcript of that portion of the session, and some photos taken from a video of the event,
On Tuesday, September 13, 2005, Microsoft announced to its employees and that it was reorganizing the company into a simpler organization in which executives much further down the chain would have direct decision-making capabilities, allowing the company to move more quickly in this ever-changing market and compete better with companies such as Google and Apple. The reorg was announced publicly a week later, with Microsoft also announcing that group vice president Jim Allchin would retire once Windows Vista ships in late 2006. Succeeding Allchin is Kevin Johnson, who will oversee the new Platform Products Services division. Jeff Raikes, the head honcho of the unit previous responsible for Microsoft Office, was named president of the Microsoft Business Division. And Xbox's Robbie Bach was named president of Microsoft Entertainment Devices Division, which will combine the Xbox with Microsoft's other hardware products,
Microsoft is unveiling a major reorganization today to help get Vista out the door. Some of the major changes include the appointing of three new officers to the three major divisions. The Microsoft Platform Products Services Division will be led by Kevin Johnson and Jim Allchin as co-presidents Jeff Raikes has been named president of the Microsoft Business Division and Robbie Bach has been named as president of Microsoft Entertainment Devices Division. In addition, the company said Ray Ozzie will expand his role as chief technical officer by assuming responsibility for helping drive its software-based services strategy and execution across all three divisions.