Article: Seattle PI reports on the Changes in COSD

The Seattle PI reported today that “Microsoft Corp. announced plans Thursday to reshape the internal structure of its Windows engineering division…” known as the Windows Core Operating System Division (aka COSD), which Jon DeVaan leads.

“Microsoft said the changes announced for the Windows Core Operating System Division will take effect after Vista’s release, applying to work on future versions. They’re designed, in part, to streamline the division and make it more flexible. Microsoft said the changes won’t involve layoffs.

“It’s part of a broader revamp of Windows development efforts. Earlier this year, Microsoft brought in Steven Sinofsky, a Microsoft Office executive known for getting teams to meet deadlines, as the senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live engineering group.

“The latest changes include the creation of a new team inside the Core Operating System Division that will “focus on a single, integrated development plan for Windows,” the company said.

A couple of the changes noted in the article include…

• the move to combine our Security, Trustworthy Computing (TwC) and Engineering Excellence teams (which operate across the company) into a single group within COSD, led by Scott Charney (he’s led the TwC group),


• and the venerable Jawad Khaki will manage a new group in COSD that works with hardware makers.

Good moves as these and the rest of Jon’s technical executives are focused on the needs of our customers (end users) and partners (IHVs, OEMs, manufacturers, service providers). Jon DeVaan is one of the best listeners, continually supports our efforts to improve customer and partner satisfaction across the company, and is particularly good at finding ways to bridge the communications gap that sometimes happens (even within the company). I’ll ask if he can make some time for a chat on TechNet.

And Scoble sat down with Jawad this summer and the interview is here on Channel9, and see this community/chat transcript on Technet. Jawad is great with customers and has forged some deep relationships with key manufacturers in the industry.