Why Steven Sinofsky is out at Microsoft - Several plausible reasons | Hacker News Reader

Why Steven Sinofsky is out at Microsoft - Several plausible reasons

arstechnica.com

61 pointsReltair16 comments

It might be helpful to add the article's subtitle, so that it reads: "Why Steven Sinofsky is out at Microsoft - Let's Make Some Guesses"

Agreed. It's pretty annoying to be told "here is the reason" when the article is "spammy guesses, how about some ads?"

Added part of the article's subtitle to make it more clear.

Actual> Of several plausible reasons, only one rings true.

Is ringing true anything like being true?

Looks good.

My favorite was the comment that suggested he had to step down because was having an affair with Gen. Petraeus. As informative as the other speculation, but actually got a chuckle out of me.

Maybe he left because, you know... he wanted too?

Maybe, but probably not.

Much more likely than Ballmer not feeling that Sinofsky is up to snuff for the CEO's job is that Ballmer is afraid the Board may view Sinofsky as a better candidate for the job than him. There have been some calls for Microsoft to get rid of Ballmer, and it's more difficult for them to do so if there are fewer viable alternatives.

It's as good a guess as any. Ballmer's tenure as CEO of Microsoft wasn't disastrous, but it wasn't great either. The company just sort of floated through the 2000s.

Under this theory, you believe that Ballmer can unilaterally have Sinofsky removed without board approval? Or the board just unthinkingly goes along with him, even though it removes a high-profile leader in the organization?

It's called scapegoating. All you have to do is convince the board that someone else is responsible for all the company's problems, then you not only get rid of an opponent, but make yourself look good in the process. It's a win-win for one person. :-)

Of course, this is just speculation.

It's out because he was fired. It's as simple as that.

maybe microsoft just wanted Forstall to take over ? :-P

Surprised this hasn't been posted:

http://allthingsd.com/20121113/in-the-sinofsky-departure-bil...

Basically Sinofsky was fired because Ballmer/Gates wanted more collaboration/integration between the other divisions. And Sinofsky is famous for protecting his fiefdom. Very similar to Forstall.

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