back to article Microsoft shunts top exec Julie Larson-Green sideways to make way for Stephen Elop

Top Windows exec Julie Larson-Green is moving sideways through Microsoft into a new job in the search and services business. Larson-Green had been running devices at Redmond, a job which is due to be handed over to former Nokia chief exec Stephen Elop once Microsoft has completed its acquisition of the Finnish firm's mobile- …

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  1. poopypants

    More popcorn, please

    It will be interesting to see what happens to XBox under Elop.

    1. TheOtherHobbes

      Re: More popcorn, please

      >It will be interesting to see what happens to XBox under Elop.

      He'll probably sell it to Google.

    2. Euripides Pants
      Windows

      Re: More popcorn, please

      "It will be interesting to see what happens to XBox under Elop."

      He'll light that platform on fire too...

  2. wowfood

    lol

    Elop, who was a rumoured contender for the position of top dog at Microsoft after the retirement of current CEO Steve Ballmer, will be working on devices like Xbox and Surface tablets

    That's pure genius, put the guy who watned to get rid of the xbox division in charge of xbox. I mean, that is pure brilliance right there. Then again, while trying to make a success out of Nokia he single handedly drove them into the ground, so maybe by trying to drive something into the ground he'll actually make it better?

    1. Malcolm 1

      Re: lol

      It's well known that Nokia was practically printing money when Elop joined...

      1. Chris G

        Re: lol

        Funny but every time I read his name it comes out as Stephen Flop!

        1. aqk
          Facepalm

          Re: Pay attention!

          How many times do I have to tell you: Pay attention to the bottom line!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        > It's well known that Nokia was practically printing money when Elop joined...

        According to Tomi Ahonen's highly partisan writings they were at least profitable, with only a single quarter of loss (from the NSN division) and growing smartphone unit sales (not of course at Jobsian margins). The unit sales graph is saddening:

        http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/.a/6a00e0097e337c8833019b010c6d00970d-pi

        (from the splendid URL: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2013/11/nokia-under-elop-his-3-years-performance-review-worst-ceo-of-all-time-all-the-facts-in-pictures.html

        Tomi gets very repetitive (and I'm in awe at his typing speed; rants on a keyboard faster than I do at a bar) but the picture he draws of Elop's time and especially of that astonishing $25M bonus for failure is boggleworthy (less ranty take here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2013/09/24/nokia-admits-giving-misleading-information-about-elops-compensation/

        And yes, S60 was in trouble - long in dire need of a UI czar with real arse-kicking powers, too much consensus of the "oh gosh let's do both" sort achieved by senior managers unable to control [or understand] their subordinates, too many layers of shims and frameworks soaking up the performance advantage of the Symbian core beneath (and that performance increasingly less relevant in an era of big batteries and frequent recharging)... but had all the crap of competing Qt visions ("Orbit" - nobody could even explain to me how that made sense, let alone how it could work) been quickly stomped and Joy of QML world pursued with vigour then (just maybe) they'd have phoenixed (beyond the dying bird and blazing fire part - that bit happened for sure)

    2. ColonelClaw

      Re: lol

      Reading between the lines I'm guessing that Satya wants to get rid of the money-draining XBox division, so who better than Mr Elop to see it dies a quick death?

      As for Julie L-G, I don't care what division she works in as long as she never, ever, EVER has anything to do with interface design again.

    3. Daniel B.

      Re: lol

      Nice. Putting Elop the Nokia Butcher on the Xbox division? That's got to be real good! Especially as he wanted that division dead. Go Elop, kill it!

  3. 1Rafayal
    Joke

    Being a Sony fanboi, I can only see this as a good thing.

    1. Anonymous Coward
  4. kmac499

    “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single Exec in possession of a Vision, can usually screw a company up." 'pologies to J Austen

    As most corporate infantry are well aware it's the nosiy ambitious generals that cause chaos at the expense of the troops. Genuine success is often supplied by the quiet calmer leaders nudging the troops and making sure they are well supplied and provisioned.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Stilwell in Burma!

  5. Phil W

    Abbreviated Job Title

    Chief Executive of My Life.

  6. Joe Drunk

    Wait what?

    "Chief Experience Officer of the My Life & Work Team"

    In my many, many years in corporate I've seen job titles that left one scratching their head envisioning the true role of what is obviously a patronage position but this one wins the "Most Ambigious Job Title of The Year" award.

    1. Stevie

      Re: Wait what?

      My thought was "Minister for Administrative Affairs" when I read it.

    2. The Godfather

      Re: Wait what?

      Alas it's a title that screams 'here's a job and title while we decide how to offload you', cheaply...

  7. Fatman
    Joke

    Larson-Green's """Promotion"""

    I see that the Microsoft execs have decided on a """promotion""" to the worthy Julie Larson-Green in recognition of all of the hard work done to improve the Windows (8) experience.

    Congrats on a "job well done".

    </sarcasm>

    1. PhilBuk
      Unhappy

      Re: Larson-Green's """Promotion"""

      Don't forget all the wonderful work she did on the Office ribbon.

      Phil.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Trojan horse trots back into stable.

  9. localzuk Silver badge

    In charge of design of Windows 7 and 8?!

    What happened in between!?

    1. monkeyfish

      Re: In charge of design of Windows 7 and 8?!

      Maybe a chair inscribed with 'apps are important' on it flew in her general direction?

  10. Ralph B

    My Life And Work

    That just happens to be the title of the autobigraphy of Henry Ford.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: My Life And Work

      Good thing they were reading Ford's autobiography; if they'd been reading Michael Grade's instead, she'd have become 'Chief Experience Officer - It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time'.

  11. CheesyTheClown

    Ugh!!! So much for new management

    Surface is an awesome product. Xbox is interesting even when consoles are lame. Stephen Elop should never be in charge of anything. He's the biggest joke in the industry. How can you expect that guy to do anything cool? His version of cool is a bright yellow telephone which he presents while wearing a tie and saying "the poor people in the third world will love this"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ugh!!! So much for new management

      > Surface is an awesome product.

      No it isn't; they can't give them away.

      > Xbox is interesting even when consoles are lame.

      So why are people buying PS4 instead?

      > Stephen Elop should never be in charge of anything. He's the biggest joke in the industry.

      ... ok, can't argue there...

      1. Euripides Pants
        Happy

        Re: Ugh!!! So much for new management

        "> Surface is an awesome product.

        No it isn't; they can't give them away."

        Thats what makes it awesome

  12. Mikel

    Losing money not moving product

    At least he has experience.

  13. GX5000

    "Larson-Green, who headed up design of Windows 7 and Windows 8"

    I don't need another reason to dislike her....wasn't she the "OFF2007 Ribbon Queen" as well ?

    Man I"m getting too old for this, Management savvy is replacing Technology knowledge more and more.....

    1. MJI Silver badge
      Mushroom

      So it's her fault

      That I have to run office 2000 on the home PC.

      I DETEST the ribbon

      <-------what they should do to it

      1. Trixr

        Re: So it's her fault

        So if you loathe it so much, why not get LibreOffice? At least that has more recent features than Office 2000, reads its formats, and does cool extra stuff like outputting PDFs natively.

        If you've got things like comments and track-changes embedded in your docs, I suppose that's not a good solution, but as an Office 2000 replacement, LibreOffice seems fine on basic principles.

        1. MJI Silver badge

          Re: So it's her fault - LibreOffice

          Because Office 2000 is good enough for us, it can write letters,

          But I would look at free alternatives as the CD got sat on.

      2. localzuk Silver badge

        Re: So it's her fault

        In my experience, people who don't like the ribbon are those who simply don't want to learn a more effective way of working.

        The keyboard shortcuts alone make it worth it! You can basically do nearly everything in the Office suite without a mouse now!

        1. MJI Silver badge

          Re: So it's her fault - Ribbon

          Because I don;t want to spend ages learning to use something I use rarely. I can use most File Edit menued software to a standard I need just by playing.

          Why do ribbon apologists forget about occasional users, the letter a week people?

          The only software I have been trained in are the tools I use for developing software.

        2. Rattus Rattus

          Re: So it's her fault

          @localzuc - I refer you to the correspondence in the matter of Arkell v. Pressdram.

  14. Florida1920
    Coat

    Bottoms up!

    Larson-Green gets to drink free at the Ribbon Bar.

  15. Mpeler
    Mushroom

    Don't need no stinkin' ribbon

    Tie a ribbon 'round her and send her on her way.....

    As far as using office without a mouse, unless you left the /sarc tag off, why don't you go back to DOS where you can hotkey to your heart's content....maybe WordPerfect 0.5 would be enough...286-8 with 128 KB should do you fine....

    1. MJI Silver badge

      Re: Don't need no stinkin' ribbon

      Actually leaving Wordstar behind was one of the saddest things in computing. One of the first MS-DOS packages I had come across and used it for years.

      Looking at the fallen software is so sad. Wordstar, Netware, Clipper, the high featured text editors, all things I miss.

      Of course everyone will have their own list, my wife was a Word Perfect user.

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