Just what does the Microsoft shuffle mean?

Microsoft last week reorganized into five divisions, each responsible for a specific customer segment. The company currently has three product-focused groups. Microsoft president Steve Ballmer last week called the corporate shuffle "the reinvention of Microsoft." Network World explores what these internal changes will mean for large enterprise customers.

Does this represent a significant shift in Microsoft's corporate structure?

This ranks up there with the company's 1995 corporate shuffle to accommodate the Internet. That said, the reorganization's effects are not as far-reaching as Microsoft's public relations team is touting. Ballmer says the new groups are formed strictly along customer lines - which are corporate users, knowledge workers, consumers and developers. But a closer look shows Microsoft is still a productdriven company at heart.

Jim Allchin still oversees all Windows development as head of both the Business and Enterprise and Consumer Windows Division. Bob Muglia is at the helm of the Business Productivity Group. Although he's now focusing on the so-called knowledge workers, who include telecommuters and home-office workers, Muglia remains the driving force behind all the Office and BackOffice applications.

Developers will get more attention from the high-profile Paul Maritz. Maritz will ensure that independent software vendors (ISV) and corporate developers get the tools they need to build software on top of Windows. This is a renewed effort to cater to ISVs.

Microsoft announced that Windows marketing guru Brad Chase and Office Product Line Manager Jon DeVaan would play major roles in the Consumer and Commerce division. But that didn't cloud the fact that Microsoft is still headhunting for someone who can turn its haphazard collection of Web sites into a formidable competitor to the likes of America Online and Yahoo.

Are these divisions a precursor to how Microsoft would want to be broken up as a result of the federal anti-trust case against it?

Absolutely not; that's from the mouth of Ballmer. There is no splitting into separate companies - or Baby Bills - that he and Gates would be amenable to, let alone lay the groundwork for.

What does this mean for the delivery of Windows 2000?

With this upgrade being more than a year late already, the shake-up applies a little more pressure on the engineering team to get Windows 2000 out the door. By all indications, Microsoft is set to release Beta 3 of Windows 2000 later this month, which is a good sign that it might be able to ship the product before year-end.

The company will likely stick to its plans for a common code base for Win9X and NT products and will continue to integrate its browser with its operating system despite the government's efforts to separate the two.

Does it change the resources the company allocates to enterprise customers?

The former Enterprise Customer Business Unit headed by Deborah Willingham has been rolled into Allchin's unit. Willingham has made inroads into Fortune 500 companies by giving them the direct sales discounts and customized service agreements they're used to getting from companies such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard.