back to article New Microsoft Windows chief 'shocked' by Sinofsky defenestration

Microsoft’s new Windows chief Julie Larson-Green has admitted to being “shocked” at her elevation as Windows chief, casting further doubt on the idea that her predecessor Steven Sinofsky's departure has been an orderly process. In a Facebook message, Larson-Green thanked people for a tide of congratulations adding: “Still in …

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  1. K

    "Risks losing users and developers."

    Perhaps there is hope... even if its only a glimmer.

  2. Bob Vistakin
    Happy

    And so it begins

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: And so it begins

      Schadefreude isn't a good thing, you know?

      1. Shagbag

        Re: And so it begins

        The fact that the Germans have a word for it speaks volumes about them as a whole.

        As does The Kaiser, Hitler, Hans Reiser and lots of other notorious Germans.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: And so it begins

          The Germans have *one* word for it because they bang words together.. in English we have many many phrases that mean the same basic thing.. but aren’t quoted because they’re pretty fecking offensive

          1. Stoneshop
            WTF?

            Re: And so it begins

            "Chickens coming home to roost" is offensive?

        2. The Baron
          FAIL

          Re: And so it begins

          The fact that the Germans have a word for it speaks volumes about them as a whole. As does The Kaiser, Hitler, Hans Reiser and lots of other notorious Germans.

          Firstly, having a word for something in your language doesn't really say anything about your nation. Virtually all languages have words for concepts both good and bad. In fact, it would significantly reduce a language's usefulness if it couldn't address such concepts.

          Secondly, even if the first sentence made any sense - which it doesn't - how is that in any way connected to your second sentence?

          Thirdly, Hitler was an Austrian, Hans Reiser is an American, and Kaiser Wilhelm II was a Hohenzollern - who can hardly be regarded as a family of pure German ancestry.

          1. Richard Plinston

            Re: And so it begins

            > who can hardly be regarded as a family of pure German ancestry.

            Wilhelm II was, for example, a grandson of Queen Victoria.

            1. John 62

              Re: And so it begins

              Not to mention, the title Kaiser is the German rendering of Caesar, the etymology of which is lost in the mists of Roman antiquity.

        3. jon_

          Re: And so it begins

          The fact that you make statements about Germans "as a whole" speaks volumes about you personally.

        4. Turtle

          @Shagbag: Re: And so it begins

          "The fact that the Germans have a word for it speaks volumes about them as a whole."

          Even though a verb and not a noun, English has "gloat" and that comes pretty close, don't you think?

          "As does The Kaiser, Hitler, Hans Reiser and lots of other notorious Germans."

          Also, as a general rule, I do not like taking a purposefully-selected group of particular individuals and using them to represent a large and heterogeneous group of people. (And Hans Reiser is pretty mild stuff, really. Any nation or group amongst which a double-murderer would really stand out for viciousness would be a peace-loving and non-violent group of people - double-murders seem about as common as muck throughout the world and its history.)

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Schadefreude isn't a good thing, you know?

        Its not as if something bad has happend to an innocent.

        Some of us who have been forced to suffer the idiocy of our Masters have long waited for this moment.

        I for one, intend to enjoy it.

  3. TheOtherHobbes

    I wonder if

    Scott Forstall is free.

    1. Bob Vistakin
      Big Brother

      Re: I wonder if

      Perhaps there is more of a parallel here than people realise, except in Sinofskys case it was the W8 disaster apology letter he refused to sign.

  4. Wibble

    The thick of it?

    Is this an omnishambles?

  5. Test Man
    FAIL

    "Still in a bit of a shock"

    That could easily mean she's shocked at Sinofsky leaving. In fact it's vague so The Register somehow determining that she's referring to her appointment therefore clearly was sudden is classic "The Sun" article misleading territory.

    In other words, there's no real consensus (on any supposed doubt on his "orderly" leaving) resulting from a vague Facebook post.

    1. Arctic fox
      Headmaster

      She tweeted "still in a bit of shock but excited".

      The grammatical logic of that is indeed that she was taken aback by a very unexpected promotion. It is in fact El Reg who are trying to run it as her expressing shock at Sinofsky's departure. She may indeed have been shocked by her old boss' departure but that tweet really needs to be stretched to sustain what the article is asserting. However, I do have a strong feeling that she is a place-holder, I do not believe that she has the CV to sustain that position.

      1. danny_0x98

        Re: She tweeted "still in a bit of shock but excited".

        Tweet, nonetheless, she is making a public statement about a major company from a top tier.

        What would she say if she did have advance knowledge? Finally? No, one is humble at moments like these.

        I've been in positions of knowing of personnel changes in advance. At one job, I knew about the dismissal of my supervisor and the restructuring that would follow.One doesn't betray confidences and when the axe falls, it is the better of problematic choices to carry on the fiction of it being as much of a surprise as it is to everyone else.

        Of course Ms Larson-Green received advance notice; they would not have given her the promotion without discussion. Today's expression of shock may be the deferred emotion from when she first knew, perhaps as recently as sometime last week, perhaps as long ago as 45 days.

        I also wouldn't be surprised to learn that Mr. Sinofsky recommended his replacements.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: She tweeted "still in a bit of shock but excited".

        Agreed, if you want to take that statement as her being "shocked" over Sinofsky's departure then apparently she is also "excited" about it. Which happens to be what I am, but it would be a strange thing for her to say (especially in public).

  6. Ramazan

    Better title: Sinofsky’s exit came mid-way through the Windows 8 lunch period

    mid-way through the lunch Ballmer comes in and tosses the poor chap out the 8th floor Window(tm).

  7. Miek
    Linux

    "He called Larson-Green the "best possible person for this job" based on the technical and business skills "required to continue our Windows trajectory"." -- Considering that Windows' current trajectory is aiming for the sewers; It's safe to say that this statement should be a bit of an insult to Larson-Green.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The best possible person for the job.

      If she can't explain who dcom works, without going to Google, then she shouldn't be there.

      Again it comes back to "Once a company gets to have so much money it can afford to employ image conscious in HR, they start employing style over content types to hide amongst."

      I wonder if their HR director's an idiot.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The best possible person for the job.

        I don't.

  8. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

    Let's just hope this isn't a health issue for Sinofsky.

  9. Shagbag
    Holmes

    Keeping the skeleton in the closet

    sudden departure vs. historical pattern of lingering = wanting to keep something secret. I too hope it's not a health issue.

    1. Ian 5
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Keeping the skeleton in the closet

      Just how weird must the pr0n have been?!

      Paris for the last Tango.

  10. ColonelClaw
    Thumb Down

    It's gonna get worse

    Julie is responsible for bringing us the Ribbon interface. I personally find it to be horrible as my humble brain was brought up to browse and search text fast, and not icons. It always takes me 2 to 3 times longer to find anything on a Ribbon.

    Consequently I'm not holding out much hope for any of her other Windows interface ideas

    1. Rampant Spaniel

      Re: It's gonna get worse

      My thoughts exactly. The ribbon and Metro are two things I personally dislike (I respect others like them, I just find they slow me down), more of that does not bode well.

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: It's gonna get worse

      Isn't it mainly her work (Metro and the idea that context switching between UIs is okay) that has ensured that Windows 8 is a complete disaster?

  11. Arachnoid
    Facepalm

    DOH!

    Sorry dont know what happened there all I initially saw was ,,,,,departure vs. historical pattern of lingerie= wanting to keep something secret

  12. Mike Judge
    Holmes

    Looks like Microsoft found a way to get ride of those unwanted Windows Phones.

    How many staff do Microsoft have?

    How many have they "sold"?

  13. Tom 35

    Must have pissed off someone in marketing

    Maybe said something like they need to provide an off switch for not-metro in win8 enterprise, or joked about creating Windows Lego edition.

  14. Valeyard
    Gimp

    skyfall

    "He called Larson-Green the "best possible person for this job" based on the technical and business skills "required to continue our Windows trajectory"."

    This trajectory is one with a steep negative gradient. If it was announced she was also the sole planner of windows 7's search functionality I wouldn't be at all surprised..

    It's like they've been infiltrated and are deliberately beaching the boat, The real Larson-Green and Ballmer are tied up in an alien mothership somewhere.

    Gimp-mask because it's either that or they love bringing it on themselves

  15. James Gosling
    Facepalm

    Let's here it for Engineers

    Give me an Engineer who knows what he is doing over some muppet in a suit anyday!

    1. Somme1

      Re: Let's here it for Engineers

      I agree with this sentiment with the following critical addition - the engineer has to have at least a passing understanding of business requirements and realities.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    "The real Larson-Green and Ballmer are tied up in an alien mothership somewhere."

    I hope the aliens have nailed the chairs down or they'll be standing all the way home.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Not a good thing

    If you're thrown into a job it can be exciting but it may also leave you unprepared because you never got in touch with the guy / woman before you who might have explained some tricks of the trade.

    Even so; I can only hope for her that its commonly known in Redmond that you should be very careful with the combination of Ballmer and chairs. Here's hoping she played enough dodgeball in her youth :-)

  18. johnnymotel

    orderly departure as in....

    a few chairs thrown and some windows broke?

  19. Hardcastle the ancient

    Can I just say

    as a life-long advocate of jobs for women in engineering, I am delighted to see her take a position of such responsibility. Regardless of what I think about the company. Good for her!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Can I just say

      Depends; if she's not suited to it then she could set the whole cause back and be brought out as an example by the old-boys

    2. GT66

      Re: Can I just say

      Yes, quota hires can only make MS even better!

  20. Gary Bickford

    Sometimes good management has nothing to do with technical prowess

    Without regard to any of the specifics of the MS case, I would reserve judgment. She may be a very good manager, _if_ she can successfully enlist her technical people to work together. (From what I hear this may not be a Microsoft characteristic, but hey.)

    The best manager I ever had came from a prototype production management group, taking over a demoralized engineering group (the previous manager was a tinpot dictator, and was tossed out after a sexual harassment suit, which was well deserved.) The first thing she said was, "I know that you folks know what you are doing, and want to do the best job you can. My job is to help you do that - to provide the tools and environment you need, and to intercede and work with other managers when you have problems with other groups." She was supportive and allowed us to do the right thing technically, using a consensus approach. I learned a lot about management from her. I have used various forms of consensus methods to allow my groups to work out the best technical solution. This has generally resulted in excellent morale, excellent products often under budget and early.

  21. James Pickett

    "best possible person for this job"

    In the same way that Ballmer is/was?

    Personally, I enjoy schadenfreude...

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "our Windows trajectory"

    whhHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee bomp

  23. Inachu
    Flame

    As much as I love Windows.

    As much as I am a Microsoft Windows diehard fan, I do think there is a bit of too much testosterone at Microsoft and I think putting a woman in charge to make sure that Windows 9 has a ladies touch to it.

    Seriously! What would Windows look like if a woman was in charge?

    I do not think it could get any worse.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    2012.11.15 MSFT 26.70

    Poof!

    https://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1353013769208&chddm=1955&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=NASDAQ:MSFT&ntsp=0&ei=_1mlUIDKEciOwAOoYw

  25. GT66

    Ahhh... now it makes sense. They needed a quota hire in that spot.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    YOU GUYS ARE MISSING THE POINT!

    The screw up at MS will be the same. But now we have a hot chick to blame!

  27. PeterM42
    Thumb Down

    It's all "Top Down"

    Once the top of the organization goes duff, then it starts to filter down.

    When Ballmer took over, so the rot started:

    - Vista

    - Ribbons

    - Windows 8

    Bring back Gates!!!

    Say no more!

    1. Jay 2
      Unhappy

      Re: It's all "Top Down"

      And on a similar subject: Kin, Zune, Sidekick (the data loss was on MS' watch), Courier...

      Many companies have disasterous products, but Balmer-era MS seems to be having more of its fair share.

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