“Sometimes — even in the most complex of organizations, which software behemoth Microsoft most certainly is — it does come down to a simple choice,” Kara Swisher reports for AllThingsD. “And, in the case of the seemingly sudden departure of Windows head Steve Sinofsky yesterday, several high-level sources at the company said that it came down to former CEO and co-founder Bill Gates’s backing of current CEO Steve Ballmer in the controversial decision to part ways with the powerful exec.”

Swisher reports, “While Gates — who is now chairman of Microsoft’s board –has had a longtime and very close relationship with Sinofsky, he supported the move by Ballmer to promote more integration of Microsoft’s other divisions and also involve other top executives more significantly than ever before in the planning and development of the next version of Windows. This more collegial cross-division effort was different than the closely held, command-and-control and even secretive method for which Sinofsky had been well known throughout the company. In fact, numerous sources said, it was an anathema to him.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Captain Ballmer. Forever rearranging the deck chairs.

Captain Ballmer

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Windows head Steven Sinofsky out at Microsoft – November 12, 2012