Microsoft tweaks the structure of its Developer Division to focus on existing developers and attract new ones in the hotly contested software space.
Although Microsoft has
already made a name for itself in getting close with its developers, the
company is looking at ways to get even cozier with its developer base.
In an internal memo,
reported
by All About Microsoft, the head of Microsoft's Developer Division says the
company will focus on bringing in new developers to Microsoft platforms.
Following the MIX11
conference and heading into Microsoft's developer conference in September, S.
Somasegar, senior vice president of the Microsoft Developer Division, said, "We
are making a number of organizational changes in DevDiv that are intended to
set us up for even more success in attracting developers to Microsoft platforms
and in gaining a leadership position in cloud computing."
Somasegar added in the memo:
"The changes we are announcing today will help us focus and execute on our
developer strategy more effectively to attract developers to Microsoft
platforms and drive platform pull-through. With engineering, marketing and
evangelism working together even more closely, we will also be able to execute
better on our plans to drive usage of our developer tools more broadly and grow
to a $2 billion-plus business."
In a
MIX11 keynote, Steven Sinofsky, president
of Windows and Windows Live at Microsoft, announced that Microsoft's
"next
developer conference" would be held Sept. 13-16 in Anaheim, Calif. The
conference is being viewed as the equivalent of, or successor to, the Microsoft
PDC (Professional Developers Conference).
Meanwhile, Somasegar's memo
covers a vast reorganization-featuring several key managers and technical
personnel-that indicates the seriousness of the moves. In particular, Microsoft
is moving coding golden boy and developer favorite Scott Guthrie, the Microsoft
corporate vice president who headed .NET development and championed
Silverlight, to Windows Azure.
Emphasizing the importance
of this move, Somasegar said in the memo:
[We are] sharpening our Focus around
Azure and Cloud Computing. Azure and the cloud are incredibly important
initiatives that will play a huge role in the future success of STB [the Server
and Tools Business] and the company. Given the strategic importance of
Cloud Computing for STB and Microsoft, we need a strong leader to help drive
the development of our Cloud Application Platform and help us win developers
for Azure. We've asked Scott Guthrie to take on this challenge and lead the
Azure Application Platform team that will report to Ted Kummert in BPD [the Business
Platform Division]. This team will combine the Web Platform & Tools team
led by Bill Staples, the Application Server Group led by Abhay Parasnis and the
Portal and Lightweight Role teams from the Windows Azure team. Scott's
transition is bittersweet for me. I personally will miss him very much, but I'm
confident that Scott will bring tremendous value to our application
platform. With Scott's current organization finishing up important
milestones, the timing is right for Scott to take on this role.
Whether Guthrie's move will
mean anything in particular about the future of Silverlight is yet to be seen.
However,
Microsoft
committed to continuing to support Silverlight as well as HTML5 technology
in the Windows platform's Internet Explorer 9 operating system.
Somasegar also said
Microsoft is consolidating developer tools marketing and evangelism functions
into the Developer Division. "This change will enable us to work together more
tightly to build the right products, as well as to market, evangelize and sell
them the right way. This enables us to continue to be the champions for the
developer audience at Microsoft and work closely with the platform teams to
deliver a compelling developer story."
With this in mind, the DPE (Developer
Platform and Evangelism) team led by Walid Abu-Hadba will report to Somasegar.
Meanwhile, the Student Evangelism team, led by Jon Perera will be joining DPE
from the Microsoft Office Division and will continue their focus and charter of
winning the hearts and minds of students and the academic community. And, said
Somasegar, "The Developer Tools Marketing team, including the Product
Management team led by Dave Mendlen, the Outbound Developer team led by Angus
Norton, the Developer Business team led by Kara Westhusing, the Developer
Tracker Survey run by Maureen Hughes, and the Silverlight Marketing team, will
report to Mitra Azizirad. Mitra has been with the company for 19 years in a
variety of business and strategic leadership roles and has been a leader in
helping us be a $1 billion-plus tools business."
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