Microsoft engineering groups are the operating divisions of Microsoft. Starting in April 2002, Microsoft organised itself into seven groups, each an independent financial entity.[1] In September 2005, Microsoft announced a reorganization of its then seven groups into three.[2] In July 2013, Microsoft announced another reorganization into five engineering groups and six corporate affairs groups.[3] A year later, in June 2015, Microsoft reformed into three engineering groups.[4] In September 2016, a new group was created to focus on artificial intelligence and research.[5] On March 29, 2018, a new structure merged all of these into three.[6][7]
As of 2023, there are four groups:
- Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (Azure, GitHub, Visual Studio, npm, C#, .NET, TS)
- Experiences and Devices (Windows, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams, Bing, Edge, Surface, HoloLens)
- Gaming (Xbox, Xbox Game Studios, ZeniMax Media, Activision Blizzard, Game Pass, Cloud Gaming, Xbox network)
- Technologies and Research (Garage, M12, Microsoft Research)
Experiences + Devices
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This group produces consumer and enterprise experiences, spanning from Windows products and devices to Microsoft 365 productivity subscription solution. Experiences and Devices is led by Rajesh Jha; Windows and Devices is led by Panos Panay; Office Product Group is led by Joe Belfiore; Web Experiences and Advertising is led by Mikhail Parakhin.
Windows is an operating system by Microsoft. Windows is available in different families, catering to different kinds of devices.[8]
- Windows NT – Windows 11 is the latest OS in this family. It is designed for use in personal computers, 2-in-1 PCs and tablets. As of 2020, Microsoft Windows retained around 75% market share in personal computers and 2-in-1 PCs combined.[9] However, in tablets the market share of Windows is just around 10%.[10]
- Windows IoT – designed specifically for use in IoT scenarios such as on devices where the OS may not directly be visible to the end user; in particular, home appliances, home automation, auto-motives, industry devices etc.[11]
- Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Phone and Windows Mobile – designed for smartphones and small tablets. The last OS in this group viz. Windows 10 Mobile includes all basic consumer features, including Continuum capability. These all have been discontinued.[12][13][14]
- Windows 9x – comprises Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME (discontinued).[15]
- Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0 and Windows 3.0 – versions of Windows that were launched from MS-DOS and were not stand-alone operating systems (discontinued).
- Xbox One system software – includes all versions of Windows running on Xbox game consoles.[16]
The Microsoft hardware division is responsible for producing self-branded hardware and various lines of consumer electronics products. They consist of:
- Microsoft Surface – a family of Windows-based personal computing devices, first launched in 2012. It includes the Surface and Surface Pro series of 2-in-1 tablet computers, the Surface Book laptop, the Surface Studio all-in-one PC, and the Surface Hub interactive whiteboard.
- Microsoft HoloLens – a set of augmented reality smartglasses, launched in 2016.[17]
- Xbox – a home gaming console. Many video games for the platform have been developed by the company’s Xbox Game Studios subsidiary, in addition to third-party video game publishers such as Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. The first generation launched in 2001[18] and was succeeded by the Xbox 360 in 2005,[19][20] the Xbox One in 2013, and Xbox Series X and Series S in 2020.[21][22]
- Microsoft also produces and sells mice, keyboards, webcams, headsets, game controllers and wireless display adapters. The production of these accessories is outsourced in most cases.
Microsoft 365 and Office
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Microsoft Office is a line of office software, provided by Microsoft. Office[23][24] includes Word (a word processor), Excel (a spreadsheet program), PowerPoint (a presentation software), OneNote (a notetaking program), Outlook (an email program, frequently used with Exchange Server), OneDrive (a cloud storage and file hosting service) and Teams (a unified communication and collaboration platform). It also encompasses other products (not bundled in Office suite) like Microsoft Access, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio and Microsoft SharePoint. Web services connected via Microsoft accounts such as Outlook.com (a free web-based service previously branded as Hotmail), Outlook on the web, Sway and To Do are also part of Office.
Skype[25] is an application that specializes in providing video chat and voice call services. Users can exchange text and video messages, files and images, and create conference calls. Other applications developed alongside Skype are Skype Translator, Skype Qik and GroupMe. Originally launched in 2003, it was bought by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion.[26]
Web Experiences and Advertising
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Bing (known previously as Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search) is a web search engine (advertised as a «decision engine»[27]) from Microsoft. As of October 2018, Bing is the third largest search engine globally, with a query volume of 4.58%, behind Google (77%) and Baidu (14.45%).[28] A complete list of search offerings from Bing can be found here. Under Bing, below non-search offerings are also listed:
- Bing Ads – an advertising service that provides pay per click advertising on various search engines.[29]
- Bing Translator – a statistical machine translation platform and web service.[30]
- Bing Webmaster Tools – an online toolbox that allows webmasters to add their websites to the Bing index crawler.[31]
- Cortana – an intelligent personal assistant.[32]
- Microsoft Pulse – an audience response system, it has been used by several major news organisations like CNN, Fox and MSNBC.[33]
MSN is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft. It was launched in August 1995. The current website and suite of apps offered by MSN was first introduced by Microsoft in 2014 as part of a complete redesign and relaunch.[34] The redesign of MSN proved positive and helped increase traffic with an additional ten million daily visitors after two months.[35] MSN is based in the United States and offers international versions of its portal for dozens of countries around the world.[36]
This group focuses on building the core foundations. It was originally the Cloud and Enterprise group until March 2018, when it was expanded with the Windows core platform team merged into it. Led by Scott Guthrie.
Microsoft Azure[37] is the company’s cloud computing platform that hosts virtual machines, websites and more. It provides both platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) services and supports many different programming languages, tools and frameworks, including both Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems. It was launched in 2010. Within the Azure team
- Business AI
- Universal Store and Commerce
- AI Perception and Mixed Reality
- AI Cognitive Services and Platform
Microsoft Visual Studio[38] the set of programming tools and compilers. The software product is GUI-oriented and links easily with the Windows APIs but must be specially configured if used with non-Microsoft libraries. Visual Studio supports development for both native Windows platform and .NET Framework. It was launched in 1995.
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) software applications. Microsoft Dynamics was previously a separate engineering unit until it got reorganised into the Cloud & Enterprise Group in June 2015.[39]
Microsoft Servers[40] (previously called Windows Server System) is a brand that encompasses Microsoft’s server products. This includes the Windows Server editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system itself, as well as products targeted at the wider business market.[41] Microsoft’s server products are further categorized into four groups namely, Operating systems, Productivity, Security and Microsoft System Center. A complete listing of product offerings can be found here.
In July 2016, Microsoft moved the Windows Server team and its related products to the Windows and Devices Group, further justifying one Windows core across all platforms.[42]
Microsoft underwater data center
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In 2016, Microsoft made plans to operate an experimental underwater server farm off the coast of Orkney.[41] The nitrogen-atmosphere enclosed server farm was actually moved into position under the sea in May 2018, and included 855 servers. Powered exclusively by electricity from the Sun and wind, the server farm operated for two years, until May 2020, when the experiment ended, the enclosed tube was recovered, and brought to the surface for analysis. Preliminary results showed only 8 of the 855 servers failed during the two-year test, a failure rate of just 1/8 that of Microsoft’s above ground server farms.[43][needs update]
Technologies + Research
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This group was created in September 2016 to emphasize the company’s presence on artificial intelligence. It was formed when parts of the former Apps and Services group came together with the research team to form a fourth engineering group.[5][44] Led by Harry Shum.
Microsoft Research was created with the intent to advance state of the art computing and solve difficult world problems through technological innovation in collaboration with academic, government, and industry researchers.
- Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit
- Microsoft Garage
- Microsoft Press
- Microsoft Research
- Xbox Game Studios
- ^ «Microsoft Realigns Business Structure, Belluzzo to Transition». Stories. Microsoft. 3 April 2002. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
- ^ «Microsoft Realigns for Next Wave of Innovation and Growth». Stories. Microsoft. 20 September 2005. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
- ^ Ballmer, Steve. «One Microsoft: Company realigns to enable innovation at greater speed, efficiency». Microsoft. Microsoft. Archived from the original on July 13, 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
- ^ «Microsoft aligns engineering teams to strategy». Microsoft News Center.
- ^ a b «Internal email: Microsoft forms new 5,000-person AI division; key exec Qi Lu leaving after bike injury». GeekWire. 2016-09-29. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
- ^ «Satya Nadella email to employees: Embracing our future: Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge | Stories». Stories. 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ^ «Microsoft is ready for a world beyond Windows». The Verge. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
- ^ «Windows 10 has seven editions – here’s how to tell which is for you». 29 May 2015.
- ^ «Desktop Operating System Market Share Worldwide».
- ^ «Tablet operating systems market share worldwide from 1Q’16 to 4Q’20». Strategy-Analytics. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
- ^ «A Guided Tour of Windows 10 IoT Core -«. 15 July 2015.
- ^ «Microsoft Phasing Out Windows Mobile 6.x». Redmondmag.com.
- ^ Sherman, Joshua (30 September 2015). «Goodbye Windows Phone! Windows 10 will take it from here». Digital Trends.
- ^ Reilly, Claire (2017-10-08). «Windows 10 Mobile gets its final death sentence». CNET. Retrieved 2017-10-09.
- ^ Krebs, Brian (1 July 2006). «Microsoft to End Support Of Old Windows Versions» – via washingtonpost.com.
- ^ Rundle, Michael. «The biggest Xbox One update in history finally has a launch date».
- ^ «What Impressed Me the Most About Microsoft’s HoloLens».
- ^ «The History of the Xbox». 12 May 2013.
- ^ «Midnight Madness Hypes Xbox 360 Launch». Retrieved 2006-07-03.
- ^ «Xbox 360 sells out within hours». BBC News. 2005-12-02. Retrieved 2006-07-03.
- ^ Tor Thorsen (2005-11-11). «360 to play 200-plus Xbox games». GameSpot. Retrieved 2006-07-14.
- ^ Tor Thorsen (2005-12-09). «360 backward-compatibility update re-released». GameSpot. Retrieved 2006-07-14.
- ^ Mayo, Benjamin (22 January 2016). «Mac users can now try out new Microsoft Office features early with ‘Office Insider’ program».
- ^ «Office Mobile apps Word, PowerPoint and Excel see new updates arrive in store». On MSFT. 20 January 2016.
- ^ «Microsoft Brings Skype Closer to Unified Business Communication».
- ^ Bright, Peter. «Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5 Billion. Why, Exactly?».
- ^ «Welcome to Discover Bing». Discover Bing. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
- ^ «Net Marketshare, Market Share Statistics for Internet Technologies». netmarketshare.com.
- ^ «Here’s What’s Changing With Bing Ads Now That It Includes AOL».
- ^ «Bing Translator beta app for Windows 10 updated». MSPoweruser. 24 September 2015.
- ^ «Bing Webmaster Tools Warns of Microsoft Edge Compatibility Issues». 8 January 2016.
- ^ «How to Turn On and Use Cortana in Microsoft Edge».
- ^ Bing Pulse real-time polling tools are now Microsoft Pulse real-time polling tools
- ^ Bishop, Todd (September 30, 2014). «MSN’s rebirth brings Microsoft’s new approach into focus». GeekWire. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
- ^ Finney, Joseph (19 November 2014). «How has Microsoft’s redesign of MSN.com affected daily site traffic?». WinBeta.
- ^ «MSN Worldwide». Retrieved 2015-04-10.
- ^ «Inside Microsoft’s Azure Stack Private Cloud». 29 January 2016.
- ^ «Microsoft open-sources Visual Studio Code, launches free Visual Studio Dev Essentials program».
- ^ Foley, Mary Jo (18 June 2015). «How Microsoft’s latest reorg will affect Dynamics CRM and ERP. Microsoft is bringing its Dynamics CRM and ERP businesses out of their silo and into the company’s Cloud and Enterprise unit». ZDNet.
- ^ Foley, Mary Jo. «Microsoft rolls out its R Server big-data analytics line-up — ZDNet».
- ^ a b Markoff, John (31 January 2016). «Microsoft Plumbs Ocean’s Depths to Test Underwater Data Center». New York Times.
- ^ Foley, Mary Jo. «Microsoft to move Windows Server engineering team into Windows and Devices Group». ZDNet. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
- ^ Cellan-Jones, Rory (14 September 2020). «Microsoft’s underwater data centre resurfaces after two years». BBC News. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
- ^ Linke, Rebecca. «The reasoning behind Microsoft’s new A.I. and Research Group». Computerworld. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
- Microsoft aligns engineering teams to strategy News Center — Microsoft aligns engineering teams to strategy
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has announced some major changes to the company’s leadership team and one of the biggest changes is that Stephen Elop is no longer head of Microsoft’s Devices Group.
In fact, there is no longer a Devices Group. Instead, Microsoft is combining its hardware and operating system divisions to create a new Windows and Devices Group (WDG) which is headed by Terry Myserson.
Stephen Elop had been head of the Microsoft’s business division form 2008 through 2010 when he left to become CEO of Nokia… which was later acquired by Microsoft. When the dust settled, Elop was back at his former employer, but this time he was head of the hardware division.
Now Elop is retiring from Microsoft as his department merges the Windows division to create the new WDG team.
Myserson had previously led Microsoft’s operating system division. Now he’s in charge of the teams that also work on devices including Microsoft Surface tablets, Lumia smartphones, Xbox game consoles and also newer and upcoming products like the Microsoft Band fitness tracker, HoloLens holographic computer, and Surface Hub big-screen, touchable computer.
Nadella says combining the groups will help the company “create new categories while generating enthusiasm and demand for Windows broadly.”
Of course, that’s a road Microsoft has been traveling for a few years. It’ll be interesting to see whether the company picks up the pace in the coming years, or if the move is simply aimed to help polish upcoming products that have already been revealed such as HoloLens and Surface Hub.
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Команда, ответственная за разработку Windows Server переходит под управление Терри Меерсона, который руководит подразделением Windows and Devices Group. Таким образом все версии Windows теперь разрабатываются в одном подразделении. Вслед за Windows Server в Windows Devices Group перейдет и команда Remote Desktop Services. При это руководители обоих продуктов, Майки Нийл и Бред Андеросон, останутся в команде облачных и корпоративных подразделений.
Разумеется, что эти части разработчиков Windows уже долгое время сотрудничают, но более тесная работа групп поможет разработчикам создавать более качественные продукты. Это очень важно, поскольку Microsoft ставит себе за цель создавать идеальную Windows, которая подходит для всех устройств. От маленьких IoT-устройств до гигантских серверов и дата-центров.
Окончательная дата завершения перехода не сообщается.
Microsoft is moving the engineering team responsible for Windows Server to the Windows and Devices Group, resulting in all versions of Windows at the company now being part of the same unit.
Executive Vice President Scott Guthrie will continue to head up the remaining Cloud and Enterprise unit, and Executive Vice President Terry Myerson will now continue to run the expanded Windows and Devices Group.
Both the Windows Server engineering and the Remote Desktop Services engineering teams will be part of Myerson’s organization, my sources are saying. But Mike Neil, who currently oversees Windows Server engineering, and Brad Anderson, who is responsible for Remote Desktop Services, are staying with the Cloud and Enterprise team, I am hearing, and will continue to head up the other teams they currently lead.
I asked Microsoft about the moves, which I was tipped to by sources, and a spokesperson confirmed with the following statement:
As we advance our goal to build operating systems that provide the best experiences from the smallest IoT devices to the largest scale server deployments in public and private clouds, the Windows Server team will move from the Cloud and Enterprise Group to the Windows and Devices Group. These groups already work closely together, and we believe this move will help us bring even more value to our customers as we deliver our most cloud-ready server OS with the Windows Server 2016 launch this fall.
Guthrie since February 2014 has been EVP of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise division, where he has been in charge of Microsoft’s cloud, server, database, business apps, security, management, and development tools business. Before that, from May 2011 to February 2014, Guthrie was corporate vice president of the Microsoft Azure team. Prior to that, he ran the Developer Division at Microsoft. He’s been with the company since 1997.
Myerson has been EVP of the Windows and Devices Group, which is responsible for the Windows OS, apps, games, store, and devices including Surface, Xbox, Lumia, and HoloLens, since 2014. He’s been with Microsoft since 1997, when Microsoft bought Interse Corp., where he was CEO.
Moving Windows Server out of the Cloud and Enterprise Group makes sense, given Windows Server and Windows have been developed pretty much in lockstep for the past several years, and Microsoft has been championing the idea of one Windows core shared across platforms.
Microsoft originally combined the Windows Server and Azure teams to create the Server and Cloud unit in 2009. The thinking at that time was that putting server and cloud together made sense because of the company’s focus on providing users with the full spectrum of public/private/hybrid cloud offerings from a single place.
Microsoft on July 20 is believed to have signed off on Windows 10 Anniversary Edition, the next major update to Windows 10. Windows 10 Anniversary Edition will be generally available on August 2 and will start rolling out across all devices running the common Windows 10 core, including PCs, tablets, Windows Phones, Surface Hub, Xbox One, and the HoloLens, officials recently said.
Thee server-side complement to Windows 10 Anniversary Edition, Windows Server 2016, will launch in late September and begin rolling out to customers around early October, officials have said. Some of the functionality that’s in the Windows 10 Anniversary core is shared with Windows Server 2016.
Microsoft officials wouldn’t say when Server and Remote Desktop engineering would move to Windows and Devices, but my bet is relatively soon, given Windows 10 Anniversary is basically done.
Windows
It’s been a particularly good week for Microsoft. Its market cap finally surpassed that of Amazon, it reached RTM on its latest feature update, and Bing AI got a tenfold speed increase.
However, it seems the company is using the lull of completed projects to reshuffle. In a memo to employees, CEO Satya Nadella announced plans to axe the Windows and Devices group and form two new engineering teams.
‘Experiences & Devices’ will carry on the work of the Surface line, while also working on a “unified product ethos” and further integration of Windows, and Office 365. Rajesh Jha will head up this division, with Panos Panay as the chief product officer and Joe Belfiore continuing to drive Windows experiences.
Meanwhile, Kudo Tsunoda will still lead the New Experiences and Technology team, and Brad Anderson Enterprise Mobility and Management, with closer integrations with Office 365 and EMS teams.
Among all this, you may be wondering what’s happening to the head of the former Windows and Devices group, Terry Myerson. It seems the 20-year veteran is finally moving on from the company.
“With change comes transition, and one transition we have been planning for is for Terry Myerson to pursue his next chapter outside Microsoft,” explains Nadella. “Terry has been instrumental in helping me arrive at this new organizational structure, and I deeply appreciate his leadership and insight as we’ve worked through the opportunity that lies ahead.”
Cloud + AI
The second team will focus on Microsoft’s key strengths, Cloud and AI. Former cloud and enterprise head Scott Guthrie will take on a larger role managing this team, which consists of several layers.
Jason Zander will become the new vice president of Azure and will lead that portion, with the Windows platform team coming under his wing. Nadella claims the platform is already “a core part of Azure”, and that shift will let Microsoft accelerate progress on a unified computing platform.
Under this model, Gurdeep Singh Pall’s Marketing and Sales Insights teams will join James Phillips’ Business Applications group under the name Business AI. A Universal Store and Commerce Platform will join Cloud + AI under Eric Lockhard to help with “digital transformation”.
Excitingly, HoloLens visionary Alex Kipman will head a new ‘AI Perception and Mixed Reality’ team. There he will focus not just on AR, but bringing it together with all of the company’s AI and speech recognition breakthroughs. Of course, Harry Shum will remain instrumental in this, heading up a third ‘AI + Research’ team.
They’ll be subject to a new committee, AETHER, to ensure technological advances are handled responsibly. This will be led by Shum and Brad Smith, with senior leaders from across the company.
In short, this is one of the biggest reshuffles we’ve seen in recent years, but that’s not unusual for Microsoft. The company had a big switch around when Nadella took over, and tends to do so every 3-4 years to keep things fresh. Consumers are more concerned about the laser focus on the cloud business, and what that means for Windows. In that regard, only time will tell, but I don’t expect major changes any time soon.
Ryan Maskellhttps://ryanmaskell.co.uk
Ryan has had a passion for gaming and technology since early childhood. Fusing the skills from his Creative Writing and Publishing degree with profound technical knowledge, he enjoys covering news about Microsoft. As an avid writer, he is also working on his debut novel.