Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2001/10/17/new_ms_division_to_push/

New MS division to push developer relations, .NET

Keep the important people inside the tent...

By John Lettice

Posted in Software, 17th October 2001 12:29 GMT

18 months on from merging its Developer Group and Platforms Division, Microsoft is again spinning it out, this time as the Developer and Platform Evangelism Division, with the special brief to schmooze developers and evangelise .NET. VP Technical Strategy Eric Rudder is being promoted to senior VP to head up the division, which will still be a part of Jim Allchin's Platforms Division.

You may well wonder how you tell whether a Group or a Division is more important at Microsoft; it seems to depend. Rudder's Division, part of a Group, will itself consist of the Developer Division, Developer Marketing and Enterprise Tools, the Content Development and Delivery Group, and Platform Strategy and Evangelism.

Whatever. Organisational abilities have never been among Microsoft's strengths, but keeping the developers onside has traditionally been one of the company's secret weapons. So this week's move is intended to get developer relations back into focus, in preparation for getting .NET out of the door and embraced by them. ®