Microsoft Revamps for Next Major Windows Release

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday that it is reshuffling its Windows business and creating a new group that would dedicate itself to developing Windows, the world's largest software maker's core operating system.

A new group, the Windows Core Operating System Division, will focus its efforts on developing technology for the next release of Windows, code-named Longhorn, Jim Allchin, group vice president in charge of Microsoft Platforms Group, said in a memo sent to employees.

Longhorn, Microsoft's next big bet in software, will involve an overhaul not only of Windows, but also Microsoft's next largest franchises, its Office and Server software products. Microsoft has declined to provide a launch date for Longhorn, but many expect it to debut in 2005 or 2006.

Windows is Microsoft's largest group, where the software for desktop computers alone accounted for $10.4 billion, or nearly a third, of the company's revenue in its latest fiscal year.

The new division will focus on development of Windows while the other groups will be aligned along product lines.

Other Windows subdivisions managed by Allchin will be grouped along product lines, and Brian Valentine, a Microsoft veteran, will head up the new Windows Core group, according to the memo obtained by Reuters.

Analysts covering Microsoft have pointed out that the software giant's products were becoming increasingly diverse and harder to integrate despite the fact that they need to work more closely together to compete in the market place.

The reshuffle was aimed at integrating development more closely, Allchin said in his memo.

Such integration is also a key part of making Microsoft's software more secure and reliable, a promise that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates made in his Trustworthy Computing initiative launched in early 2002.

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Source: Reuters