Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft's former Windows executive, unceremoniously resigned from his position on Monday amidst rumors that CEO Steve Ballmer denied a merger between the company's Windows Phone and Windows OS departments.
On former Microsoft engineer Hal Berenson's blog, Sinofsky denies such claims:"I never initiated any discussions to bring together the organization/products you describe and no one ever approached me to manage them as part of Windows 7 or 8. If we had worked together you would know that historically, very few things moved into teams I managed as (you've no doubt seen in internal blogs) and when they did I usually pushed back hard looking for a cross-group way to achieve the goal (in other words, decide open issues rather than force an org change to subsequently decide something). it is far better to collaborate with the org in place and avoid the disruption unless it is on a product cycle boundary and far better to plan and execute together than just organize together"
Sinofsky's comment, which was originally reported at SlashGear corroborates with a memo leaked by Forbes. The e-mail was sent to Microsoft's staff and reads, "Some might notice a bit of chatter speculating about this decision or timing. I can assure you that none could be true as this was a personal and private choice that in no way reflects any speculation or theories one might read about me, opportunity, the company, or its leadership."
When news of Sinofsy's departure broke, CEO Steve Ballmer noted that he was "grateful for the many years of work that Steven has contributed to the company. The products and services we have delivered to the market in the past few months mark the launch of a new era at Microsoft."