Mfst might be getting a little worried??
Sunday February 7 5:43 PM ET
Report: Microsoft Shakeup Planned
REDMOND, Wash. (AP) - Software giant Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) is on the verge of a sweeping organizational shakeup to put much more focus on the Internet, The Seattle Times reported Sunday.
The newspaper said company officials have asked Brad Silverberg, who led Microsoft's MS-DOS and Windows operating systems upgrades through the past decade, to return from an extended leave of absence and help make the changes.
Silverberg, 44, who has been on sabbatical since a corporate power struggle two years ago, was an early advocate for Microsoft developing Internet software, including its own browser.
The Times said Microsoft has offered Silverberg the chance to oversee operations of consumer versions of Windows and the company's online businesses.
Silverberg declined to discuss any offer last week, saying only that he has not made a decision and was happy with life away from work, the newspaper said.
The pending changes are apparently not related to the long-running federal antitrust case against Microsoft.
Microsoft declined to comment on any specific reorganization plans.
''There are discussions in the company about how best to map the organization to the important customer opportunities,'' spokeswoman Marianne Allison told The Associated Press on Sunday. ''The discussions are ongoing. But it's inappropriate to comment specifically on what structure might result, since some decisions have yet to be resolved.''
Reorganizations are not rare at Microsoft, a company that has grown explosively in the past two decades to become the planet's dominant software company. But the revamping contemplated could be one of the broadest the company has seen, The Times said.
The Times quoted unidentified company sources as saying Microsoft president Steve Ballmer, second in command only to founder and chairman Bill Gates, was driving the reorganization out of concern the company has drifted away from a focus on customers.
Ballmer was made president and given day-to-day oversight of the company last year by Gates.
The Times said the reorganization would be along four customer-oriented segments:
-Consumer. The group would include Windows, online and Internet customers who use their computers for entertainment, e-mail, Web surfing and personal applications.
-Enterprise. This would focus on large corporations, institutions and others with networks of personal computers.
-Developers. Microsoft wants to renew relationships with programmers, who have been wooed by Internet applications and Java, a programming platform from arch-rival Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW - news)
-Knowledge workers. This would target home-office, small-business and mobile professionals, and would include business software, including the Microsoft Office suite of applications.
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