Did Microsoft’s Vision Just Walk Out the Door with Steven Sinofsky? Maybe Not

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Steven Sinofsky presents at Microsoft's New York City launch event for Windows 8 on October 25, 2012

Slates Farhad Manjoo is worried over Windows honcho Steven Sinofskys abrupt departure from Microsoft. He or at least whoever wrote his headline says that its terrible news:

But now Sinofsky is suddenly gone. And while I bet his departure will make Microsoft a nicer place to work, Im not sure that harmony is what the company needs now. Under Ballmer, Microsoft has long operated like it doesnt care about the future, missing the rise of the iPod, touchscreen smartphones, and modern tablets. Now, thanks to Sinofsky, its finally got a chance to break with that sorry past. So he was a jerk. So what? With Sinofskys departure, Microsoft is rudderless at a time of intense competition. He was the firms most thoughtful executive, certainly more perceptive about technology than Ballmer. Sinofsky had a firm vision about where the PC industry should go. Ballmer does not. AsMichael Pusateri quipped on Twitter, The wrong Steve is leaving Microsoft.

Manjoos piece is a good read, and I agree that its not a given that a more peaceable, collaborative Microsoft will produce better products, but Im not as alarmed over Sinofskys departure as Manjoo is. For one thing, parts of Microsoft not under Sinofskys purview, such as Xbox and Windows Phone, are doing interesting things. (In fact, Windows 8s new interface radical departure from Windows Phone though it is was borrowed from Windows Phone.) And Julie Larson-Green, the new technical lead for Windows, was one of Windows 8s creators; she wasnt just a foot soldier executing Sinofskys ideas.

One other nitpick on Manjoos story. He says:

Under Ballmer, Microsoft has long operated like it doesnt care about the future, missing the rise of the iPod, touchscreen smartphones, and modern tablets.

Seems to me that Microsoft has always been interested in the future and often pretty savvy when it comes to figuring out what product categories will matter. Where its often stumbled, badly, is at doing the stuff that makes Apple, well, Apple: figuring out how to put together hardware, software and services into polished products that consumers love. (Exhibit A: The Tablet PC, which was conceived and released early in the Ballmer era, which began when he became CEO in 2000.)

Sinofskys Windows 8 and Surface are unquestionably a wildly ambitious attempt to catapult Microsofts most important product into the future but we still dont know whether consumers will bond with them any more than they did with the Tablet PC and other past failed Microsoft attempts at futurism. Thats why I think that the jury is still out on Sinofskys legacy. Which makes it tough to gauge the size of the hole he leaves behind.

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Did Microsoft’s Vision Just Walk Out the Door with Steven Sinofsky? Maybe Not