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Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft’s Windows division, abruptly left the company on November 12, shortly after introducing the latest version of the company’s flagship operating system, Windows 8. Reportedly, Sinofsky did not get along well with other senior executives at a time when Microsoft needs to promote more coördination across its product groups. Microsoft is a large company with many talented executives. But this is no trivial departure and raises serious questions about what the company has done recently and where it will go from here.