SAYING GOODBYE. The president of Windows and Windows Live will be replaced by Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller. Photo from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/exec/ssinofsky/

MANILA, Philippines - It’s the end of an era for Microsoft's Windows operating system, and if you are to follow Microsoft’s rhetoric, it’s also time for a change in leadership. A press release sent out Monday, November 12, announced the departure of Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft’s Windows and Windows Live President.

Sinofsky will be replaced by Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller. According to the press release, Larson-Green “will be promoted to lead all Windows software and hardware engineering.” Reller, on the other hand, “retains her roles as chief financial officer and chief marketing officer and will assume responsibility for the business of Windows.”

The announced departure was to be effective immediately.

Sinofsky became a part of Microsoft in 1989. In an internal email by Steve Ballmer that was recovered by CNET, Ballmer mentions that Sinofsky was a software development engineer who “contributed to the company in many ways from his work as a technical advisor to Bill Gates, to leading the evolution of the Microsoft Office business, to his direction and successful leadership of Windows and Windows Live as well as Surface. “

At the same time, an earlier CNET profile on Sinofsky painted him as a somewhat contentious figure, one who thrived “by marginalizing rivals while running the company's most profitable businesses, Windows and Office.” The critique in that same article mentioned that he created “a rigid product development process that puts more control in his hands,” which may have lessened the innovative capability at Microsoft. – Rappler.com