Microsoft gets new Windows boss as Start Menu man Parakhin 'to explore new roles'
(2024/03/26)
- Reference: 1711465035
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/03/26/microsoft_reorg/
- Source link:
Microsoft just put Pavan Davuluri in charge of the company's Windows and Surface teams, while Windows exec Mikhail Parakhin is "to explore new roles."
This is according to a memo, seen by us, just [1]one week after the Windows giant announced its new AI unit, which will be headed up by DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman. This time last Tuesday, Microsoft announced that Parakhin as well as the GenAI team would report to Suleyman.
But last night, as first reported by [2]The Verge , another shuffle was announced in a memo from Rajesh Jha, Microsoft's EVP for Experiences and Devices. According to the memo, also sent to The Reg , Parakhin is now "exploring new roles." Jha's missive did not make it clear if those roles would be inside or outside Microsoft.
[3]
It is the latest rearranging of the deck chairs since the [4]abrupt departure of Panos Panay, the chief product officer and VP for devices.
[5]
[6]
Following Panay's exit, Parakhin was assigned the task of dealing with Windows and web experiences, while Davuluri set to work leading the Surface and devices team. According to Jha's memo of March 25, Davuluri will lead a combined Windows and Devices team "as a core part" of the Experiences + Devices (E+D) division.
"This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era."
[7]
Rather than find a place in this brave new world, Parakhin "has decided to explore new roles," as Jha put it. In the meantime, the memo states he will report to Microsoft's CTO, Kevin Scott.
Parakhin is listed on LinkedIn as CEO of Microsoft's Advertising and Web Services since September 2022, and Suleyman's appointment speaks of concern within the company regarding web services, such as the Bing search engine. These have had AI cash poured into them but have [8]yet to move the needle significantly against the market leader, Google.
[9]EU antitrust cops probe Microsoft ties between Entra ID and 365 services
[10]Microsoft's first AI PCs Surface with Intel cores and a Copilot key
[11]Microsoft hits Inflection point, peels off top personnel to form AI division
[12]Microsoft promises Copilot will be a 'moneymaker' in the long term
Many of the company's other AI services, such as Windows Copilot, remain very much a work in progress.
Parakhin is one of the more accessible members of the Windows management group. He memorably [13]promised to "make Start menu great again" earlier this year and [14]attracted flak over Microsoft's Copilot obsession.
The Register contacted Microsoft for its take on the memo, but the Windows behemoth has yet to comment. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/19/microsoft_inflection/
[2] https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/25/24111931/microsoft-windows-surface-pavan-davuluri
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZgL-JSHeYyCbgUbBYCbkOwAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/18/microsoft_surface_panos_panay/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZgL-JSHeYyCbgUbBYCbkOwAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZgL-JSHeYyCbgUbBYCbkOwAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZgL-JSHeYyCbgUbBYCbkOwAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/18/bing_ai_search/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/22/eu_antitrust_microsoft_entra_id/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/21/microsoft_ai_surface/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/19/microsoft_inflection/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/microsoft_copilot_moneymaker/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/03/windows_11_start_great_again/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/23/microsoft_copilot_pro/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
This is according to a memo, seen by us, just [1]one week after the Windows giant announced its new AI unit, which will be headed up by DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman. This time last Tuesday, Microsoft announced that Parakhin as well as the GenAI team would report to Suleyman.
But last night, as first reported by [2]The Verge , another shuffle was announced in a memo from Rajesh Jha, Microsoft's EVP for Experiences and Devices. According to the memo, also sent to The Reg , Parakhin is now "exploring new roles." Jha's missive did not make it clear if those roles would be inside or outside Microsoft.
[3]
It is the latest rearranging of the deck chairs since the [4]abrupt departure of Panos Panay, the chief product officer and VP for devices.
[5]
[6]
Following Panay's exit, Parakhin was assigned the task of dealing with Windows and web experiences, while Davuluri set to work leading the Surface and devices team. According to Jha's memo of March 25, Davuluri will lead a combined Windows and Devices team "as a core part" of the Experiences + Devices (E+D) division.
"This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era."
[7]
Rather than find a place in this brave new world, Parakhin "has decided to explore new roles," as Jha put it. In the meantime, the memo states he will report to Microsoft's CTO, Kevin Scott.
Parakhin is listed on LinkedIn as CEO of Microsoft's Advertising and Web Services since September 2022, and Suleyman's appointment speaks of concern within the company regarding web services, such as the Bing search engine. These have had AI cash poured into them but have [8]yet to move the needle significantly against the market leader, Google.
[9]EU antitrust cops probe Microsoft ties between Entra ID and 365 services
[10]Microsoft's first AI PCs Surface with Intel cores and a Copilot key
[11]Microsoft hits Inflection point, peels off top personnel to form AI division
[12]Microsoft promises Copilot will be a 'moneymaker' in the long term
Many of the company's other AI services, such as Windows Copilot, remain very much a work in progress.
Parakhin is one of the more accessible members of the Windows management group. He memorably [13]promised to "make Start menu great again" earlier this year and [14]attracted flak over Microsoft's Copilot obsession.
The Register contacted Microsoft for its take on the memo, but the Windows behemoth has yet to comment. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/19/microsoft_inflection/
[2] https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/25/24111931/microsoft-windows-surface-pavan-davuluri
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZgL-JSHeYyCbgUbBYCbkOwAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/18/microsoft_surface_panos_panay/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZgL-JSHeYyCbgUbBYCbkOwAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZgL-JSHeYyCbgUbBYCbkOwAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZgL-JSHeYyCbgUbBYCbkOwAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/18/bing_ai_search/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/22/eu_antitrust_microsoft_entra_id/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/21/microsoft_ai_surface/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/19/microsoft_inflection/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/microsoft_copilot_moneymaker/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/03/windows_11_start_great_again/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/23/microsoft_copilot_pro/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
navarac
I'm glad I abandoned the advertising & telemetry shit-show that is Windows. Reading between the lines, Windows will become a vehicle for AI - nothing to do with being an OS to enable applications to run. Which means, of course, more adverts and data scalping. Microsoft, I think you've lost the plot.
Vertical taskbar in Win11
redwine
Vertical taskbar in Win11 - Please please please!
Re: Vertical taskbar in Win11
Dwarf
@redwine
Can't you just drag it to where you wanted it, like it used to work in Windows 7 ?
You know, product enhancement and all that ..
Not a Win11 user, so never tried myself.
Good, the windows division needs a shake up. Windows Germanium is shaping up to be a complete shitshow. Win32 application support was broken in the previews and it took them 4 months to fix, even now the previews are in the worst state I have ever seen Windows. I simply can't see how this is going to be ready for the 2024 H2 launch.