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Microsoft Server and Tools Head Muglia To Step Down

Posted by Soulskill on from the shakeup-continues dept.

snydeq writes "Longtime Microsoft executive Bob Muglia, president of the company's server and tools business, will step down from his position later this year, according to a Steve Ballmer memo issued Monday to company employees. Muglia has been with Microsoft for 23 years, leading development efforts in Microsoft Office, Windows NT and online services businesses. More recently, Muglia shepherded Microsoft's entry into cloud computing, guiding the rollout of the company's Azure platform. Muglia's departure follows that of Ray Ozzie, whose exit was made all the more notable by a memo warning Microsoft to start thinking beyond the PC."

15 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Cloud by jav1231 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If he's responsible for the "cloud" moniker, good riddance.

    1. Re:Cloud by 0racle · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Like most new markets MS enters, 'the Cloud' was firmly established by the time MS got there.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  2. Last Comment... by D+Ninja · · Score: 2, Funny

    "And don't let the chair hit you in the butt on the way out!" - Ballmer

    1. Re:Last Comment... by Rary · · Score: 5, Informative

      ...if you RTFA this one was clearly fired by Ballmer outright. Quite fascinating read that memo.

      Agreed. Here are the really interesting portions of the memo:

      Bob Muglia and I have been talking about the overall business and what is needed to accelerate our growth. In this context, I have decided that now is the time to put new leadership in place for STB.

      Translation: I sat down with Bob to discuss the direction STB should be going in, and Bob didn't agree with my vision, so I replaced him.

      In conjunction with this leadership change, Bob has decided to leave Microsoft this summer.

      Translation: Bob told me where to shove my vision, and will probably go off to start his own company that kicks our cloudy asses, because let's face it, I'm no visionary leader.

      --

      "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein

  3. Close by spun · · Score: 2

    I believe his full name is Tim "Tools Head" Muglia.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  4. Ballmer job security program by joe_bruin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And thus, with the exit of half a dozen of the highest level Microsoft department heads, there is nobody at MS that can take over Ballmer's seat as CEO if the board of directors decides to fire him. He's made it much harder to fire him now.

    1. Re:Ballmer job security program by OglinTatas · · Score: 4, Funny

      Outside appointment... Is Carly Fiorina still available?

      --
      More music, fewer hits
    2. Re:Ballmer job security program by wowbagger · · Score: 2

      "Is Carly Fiorina still available?"

      I thing Darl McBride should be freeing up soon....

      --
      www.eFax.com are spammers
    3. Re:Ballmer job security program by gbjbaanb · · Score: 3, Interesting

      cue comments regarding my goldfish being a better CEO than Ballmer.... no, what this means is that the other executives in their playroom don't have anyone with "I'm next" on their hat, so that (like my goldfish really) means they won't be able to decide who to choose as a replacement, and so Ballmer stays.

      Of course, anyone who likes Android, Apple or well, anything that isn't Microsoft, should be overjoyed at this news. MS is a dead company, but like the proverbial dinosaur the neural impulses havn't travelled all the way from the tail to the brain yet - MS, being the dinosaur that it is, doesn't yet realise its day is over.

      Mind you, one thing that comes to mind is the quality of Bob Muglia. The man that once said to the Seattle Times, with a straight face, "We're going to increase quality in Windows Vista by firing all our quality assurance people!"

      Also, it appears this has been brewing for a few months. From minimsft blog:
      Somewhat trustworthy source: All BobMu's org's 10s will not see another review cycle. Terminated in groups of under 500 each month to avoid Warn. Can anyone confirm?

      Friday, October 22, 2010 7:54:00 PM

      Chances are the next CEO will be Kevin Turner, a bean counter like none other (apparently). Just the kind of guy to 'turn round' Microsoft's fortunes by basically reducing the number of beans to count. Or, as someone said on that msft blog: KT CEO - that will be a nice touch indeed - walmarting of Microsoft-- how appropriate

    4. Re:Ballmer job security program by mswhippingboy · · Score: 2

      Sorry, I what I meant was:
      It would be interesting to see if BG can come back and kick Jobs' butt a second time.

      --
      Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
    5. Re:Ballmer job security program by Capt.DrumkenBum · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Outside appointment... Is Carly Fiorina still available?

      Oh yes please! Look what she did with HP, a company that made a few good products, now just imaging how fast she could drive Microsoft into the ground. :)

      --
      If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
    6. Re:Ballmer job security program by Weegee_101 · · Score: 2

      Of course, anyone who likes Android, Apple or well, anything that isn't Microsoft, should be overjoyed at this news. MS is a dead company, but like the proverbial dinosaur the neural impulses havn't travelled all the way from the tail to the brain yet - MS, being the dinosaur that it is, doesn't yet realise its day is over.

      I love Mac OS X, I think my Android phone is fantastic, and I've been a Linux advocate for years, but I'm not thrilled at this news at all. It doesn't matter where you work, the common workstation has Microsoft products on it and STB is the last business unit of Microsoft that has been putting out good stuff consistently. If Microsoft goes belly up it will have a negative effect on the technology industry by costing businesses tons of money to readjust, and anything that threatens the tech industry threatens my chance of having fun toys like Apple computers, Android phones, or home servers I can run Linux on, by threatening my source of income.

      Seriously people, Microsoft products generally stink, but a sudden or quick change of the status quo can mean negative things for the entire industry. The very slow, gradual failure that Microsoft has been going through these past few years (thanks to successes the of STB) are a good way for it to disappear.

  5. Re:Slashdot Title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Running it through Babel Fish's "Slashdot to English" translation, I get this:

    Slashdot: "Microsoft Server and Tools Head Muglia To Step Down"

    English: "Bob Muglia, Head of Microsoft's Server and Tools Division, Is Going To Step Down"

    Then, if you run it through a "Corporate-Speak" filter, you get this:

    Plain English: "Steve Ballmer Fired Bob Muglia"

  6. Re:By Google. by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 2

    Firmly established by Google.

    Hardly. The cloud concept and name had been around long before Google came on the scene. Google also did what Microsoft often do and bought themselves into the game when they purchased the company Upstartle for the word processor and technology from 2Web Technologies for the spreadsheet.

    Now I don't have any problems doing this, and I think they did a good job integrating the two systems together. But don't give them the credit for this revolution.

  7. Tools by newsman220 · · Score: 2

    He was in charge of tools. Heh Heh.