Microsoft watcher, Brad Sams, has reported the company will undertake a Windows 10 team reorganization once Redstone 5 is in the wild. That is going to happen very soon. Microsoft has already confirmed Win10 version 1809 is officially the October 2018 Update. September is the finalization month for the updated. The company is expected to send the release to manufacturing (RTM) build for Redstone 5 to Windows Insiders on September 21. Sams says the Windows reorganization will begin soon after. He believes the Windows team will be streamlined and made thinner. However, he says Microsoft is likely to reposition employees in other divisions rather than lay them off: “I’m also hearing from somebody who’s become quite reliable lately, there might be a re-org inside the Windows world after Redstone 5 ships. This might be actually how Terry Myerson eventually exits is after that’s done, and then his role is diminished. Just people moving about, just more product lines, like Azure and Office and maybe kind of thinning out the Windows crowd. I don’t think there’s gonna be layoffs, not trying to say that, but they’re going to be just shuffling some people around.”
Secondary Priority
Whether Microsoft just wants to make the Windows team more efficient or is nodding to the fact Windows is no longer the core business remains to be seen. For decades, Windows has formed the backbone of the company, providing much of the success. However, in recent years, Microsoft has increasingly turned to the cloud through its Azure platform. Azure has driver the company to record revenue over the last year. This means Windows is no a secondary business, not unimportant by any means, but not the core of Microsoft.
