March 26th, 2007
Microsoft assembles its All Star team to tackle its Cloud OS
The Windows-Live watchers over on LiveSide.Net started drawing up the roster of who's on the Windows Live Core team. It looks like Microsoft is putting a lot of its All Stars on the Live Core team.
On the Microsoft org chart, development and engineering for both Windows and Windows Live fall under Senior Vice President Steven Sinofsky. While this set-up makes it seem as thought the two teams are inextricably intertwined, some Microsoft managers are still designated as working on Windows core (the Core Operating Systems Division) and others on the "Windows Live Core."
Windows Live Core is a fancy name for the "Cloud OS" that Microsoft's been hinting about for the past few months.
(The LiveSiders point to an interesting Microsoft PowerPoint presentation that highlights at a high level Microsoft's heavy datacenter investments that will provide the backbone for the Microsoft Cloud OS and various Live services.)
Some members of the Windows Live Core group:
* Dave Cutler. Yeah, that Dave Cutler — the guy who is credited as the father of the VMS and Windows NT operating systems. He's currently a "senior technical fellow" at Microsoft.
* Amitabh Srivastava. A Microsoft technical fellow, formerly with the Core Operating System Division (COSD) who, according to one of his bio pages on the Microsoft Web site, "was responsible for the development of core operating system components such as the kernel, operating system architecture, definition of development processes, and development of advanced tools to automate the development processes."
* James Hamilton. An architect on the Windows Live Core team "interested in multi-tenant hosted systems, the management of very large scale systems, massively parallel data management systems, database security, and unstructured data management." Before joining the Live Core team, Hamilton was the general manager of the Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services team, and before that, SQL Server Architect and leader of the Security and Incubation Team.
* Dave Treadwell. A corporate VP with Windows Live core who is charged with "defining and implementing the next-generation Live services platform." Previously, Treadwell ran the .Net Developer Platform team.
* Abolade Gbadegesin. An architect for both the Windows Networking Division and the Windows Live Core Datacenter Services team. Gbadegesin "was responsible for leading the redesign and implementation of the networking stack for Windows Vista, incorporating native support for IPv6, adaptive TCP throughput, integrated QoS capabilities, and improved wireless and satellite performance," according to his bio.
Does throwing big names at a big project spell automatic success? No. But knowing who Microsoft's slotting into the line-up makes me think the company isn't just giving lip service to the Cloud OS simply to stall the market. When will developers and/or customers see whatever shape Microsoft's Cloud OS eventually takes? Got me.
Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 20 years. Don't miss a single post. Subscribe via Email or
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