He's just a GM. there are many GM's in WP division. It is really common to see MS GMs leaving for startups.
Windows Phone GM leaving Microsoft, with a rallying cry
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Re: Windows Phone GM leaving Microsoft, with a rallying cry
#12For those who don't know Charlie his contributions include (as listed at http://www.liveside.net/2011/08/08/charlie-kindel-to-leave-m... ): - Founded Premier support - Built ActiveX and DCOM - Shipped Internet Explorer 3.0 - Drove the development of the home networking features in Windows XP - Founded eHome and shipped the first version of Windows Media Center - Drove the invention of Windows Smart Displays and Windo…
Genuine question: are any of these worth to be proud of? Besides the shipping of the actual product.
Honestly, all of them.
Re: Windows Phone GM leaving Microsoft, with a rallying cry
#13This sounds like another nail in the increasingly metal-rich coffin of Silverlight, or am I reading too much into this?
How is this in anyway related to Silverlight?
SilverLight has been presented as the preferred way to develop for Windows Phone 7, much to the dismay of some SilverLight web/desktop developers who find it a good technology for web/desktop work and fear that it will be phased out.
Re: Windows Phone GM leaving Microsoft, with a rallying cry
#14Submitted this and found out I was beaten by less than a minute :) Charlie is an extremely famous figure at MSFT for everything from COM, Windows Home Server to WP7. The first time I came across him was when I was in high school and I knew him as the guy behind COM (sorry, Charlie :) ) who wrote the funny foreword to Don Box's book. It is surreal to think that I actually met him and got to know him. This is a guy who…
" . . . to WP7." The first time I read this, I read " . . . to Word Perfect 7." Wait, what ? ! ? Maybe I'm getting old.
Most US government agencies still use Word Perfect 10 or 11, so I have the same problem with the WP acronym.
Re: Windows Phone GM leaving Microsoft, with a rallying cry
#15Middle managers at Microsoft can be successful because of a number of skills not relevant in a startup: ability to run huge teams, Microsoft institutional knowledge, political maneuvering and so on. Some of these skills might even be harmful in a startup. It will be interesting to see how Kindel fairs outside of Microsoft.
Re: Windows Phone GM leaving Microsoft, with a rallying cry
#16>>but he says he still believes strongly in Microsoft’s long-term prospects against the likes of Apple and Google in the mobile market.
I think he looses a lot of credibility saying something like this. What does he base his belief on? Better not say anything.
Re: Windows Phone GM leaving Microsoft, with a rallying cry
#17Re: Windows Phone GM leaving Microsoft, with a rallying cry
#18For those who don't know Charlie his contributions include (as listed at http://www.liveside.net/2011/08/08/charlie-kindel-to-leave-m... ): - Founded Premier support - Built ActiveX and DCOM - Shipped Internet Explorer 3.0 - Drove the development of the home networking features in Windows XP - Founded eHome and shipped the first version of Windows Media Center - Drove the invention of Windows Smart Displays and Windo…
It's a shame that both Windows MCE and Windows Home Server never lived up to their potential. Possibly we can add WM7 to that list in a few years too. I can understand why he's leaving. It must be horrible to develop these really good products and see your company drop the ball on them.
Re: Windows Phone GM leaving Microsoft, with a rallying cry
#19The article mentions this, but he actually left the WP team itself a while back, shortly after the initial release.
Re: Windows Phone GM leaving Microsoft, with a rallying cry
#20>>but he says he still believes strongly in Microsoft’s long-term prospects against the likes of Apple and Google in the mobile market. I think he looses a lot of credibility saying something like this. What does he base his belief on? Better not say anything.
I still believe that too. Of course, when you work in a place for six years and have a lot of emotion connected to that place (see my farewell mail on my blog), it tends to bias your opinions :)