Microsoft Corp caused a fluttering in the Wall Street dovecotes yesterday morning when it confirmed gossip carried on the Dow Jones news wire that Michael Hallman was stepping down as president and a board member on March 1 and would be replaced by a new three-MAN office of the president. The office will be filled by three new executive vice-presidents – Michael Maples, formerly senior vice-president, applications division; Steve Ballmer, formerly senior vice-president, systems software; and Francis Gaudette, formerly senior vice-president finance and administration and chief financial officer. The office will report directly to chairman and chief executive Bill Gates. The three will respectively oversee worldwide product development, worldwide sales and support, and worldwide operations. Hallman joined Microsoft as chief operating officer from Boeing Co about two years ago, and his departure is put down in part to the unusual power wielded by Ballmer and Maples. Gates described the office of the president as an idea whose time had come and said the new structure allows me to continue to focus on our vision for the next decade… over the last year it became obvious that the unique nature of our business has outgrown the role of the traditional company president. The company has also instituted a restructuring of its development organisations to create five product divisions – operating systems, desktop applications, database and development tools, consumers, and workgroups, each with an independent charter and mission, serving different constituencies. The aim is to help Microsoft bring products to market faster. The systems division will focus on the creation of operating systems; desktop applications will focus on Microsoft Windows and the Apple Macintosh; the database and development tools division will be responsible for all language products and technologies, and database products. The consumer division will look after products for the home, schools, and small businesses. The workgroup division will be responsible for the Microsoft mail products and mail-enabled applications.
