Ex-Windows Boss Off to Harvard
Steve Sinofsky, who recently left Microsoft after he lead the launch of Windows 8, is now a professor at the Harvard Business School.
So will Sinofsky make a good prof? I say yes. A few years ago he wrote a book, "One Strategy" with a co-author -- a book the publisher was kind enough to send me. The book is all about business organization. If I read the free book I'd tell you more.
Sinofsky changed the culture in the Windows division, enforcing some hard core message discipline and garnering some nice successes along the way.
His biggest legacy is Windows 8, and whether he did a good job here is a matter of opinion. The OS is clearly a love it or hate it situation, and that usually doesn't measure up to success in such a broad market. But then you have to look at the challenge he tackled by adding a new tablet interface while bringing along the legacy that makes Windows so useful.
My opinion is that the strategy is sound, but the task so complex it can't be made perfect all at once. Windows 9 and 10 should be the ones that make the transition between past apps and new devices more seamless.
Once Sinofsky is up to speed, maybe I'll ask my little sis, who's an exec at the business school, what she thinks. Good or bad, I'm sure it will have to be off the record!
Posted by Doug Barney on 01/07/2013 at 1:19 PM