Microsoft engineering groups

Microsoft engineering groups are the operating divisions of Microsoft. Starting in April 2002, Microsoft organised itself into seven groups, each an independent financial entity. In September 2005, Microsoft announced a reorganization of its then seven groups into three. In July 2013, Microsoft announced another reorganization into five engineering groups and six corporate affairs groups.[1] A year later, in June 2015, Microsoft reformed into three engineering groups.[2] In September 2016, a new group was created to focus on artificial intelligence and research.[3] On March 29, 2018 a new structure merged all of these into three.[4][5]

As of 2018, these three groups are:

  • Experiences & Devices
  • Cloud + AI Platform
  • AI + Research

Experiences and devices

This group produces experiences, from Windows products to devices, to enterprise. Microsoft 365 is the subscription solution that brings it all together.

Windows experience

Windows is an operating system by Microsoft. Windows is available in different families, catering to different kinds of devices.[6]

Office

Microsoft Office is a line of office software, provided by Microsoft. It is available in three versions, for desktop, for mobile devices and an online one.

Skype

Skype[19] is an application that specializes in providing video chat and voice call services. Users can exchange text and video messages, files and images, and create conference calls. Other applications developed alongside Skype are Skype Translator, Skype Qik and GroupMe. Originally launched in 2003, it was bought by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion.[20]

Devices

The Microsoft hardware division is responsible for producing self-branded hardware and various lines of consumer electronics products. They consist of:

MSN

MSN is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft. It was launched on August 1995. The current website and suite of apps offered by MSN was first introduced by Microsoft in 2014 as part of a complete redesign and relaunch.[27] The redesign of MSN proved positive and helped increase traffic with an additional 10 million daily visitors after two months.[28] MSN is based in the United States and offers international versions of its portal for dozens of countries around the world.[29]

Servers

Microsoft Servers[30] (previously called Windows Server System) is a brand that encompasses Microsoft's server products. This includes the Windows Server editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system itself, as well as products targeted at the wider business market.[31] Microsoft's server products are further categorized into four groups namely, Operating systems, Productivity, Security and Microsoft System Center. A complete listing of product offerings can be found here.

In July 2016, Microsoft moved the Windows Server team and its related products to the Windows and Devices Group, further justifying one Windows core across all platforms.[32]

Cloud + AI Platform

This group focuses on building the core foundations. It was originally the Cloud and Enterprise group until March 2018, when it was expanded with the Windows core platform team merged into it. Led by Scott Guthrie.

Azure

Microsoft Azure[33] is the company's cloud computing platform that hosts virtual machines, websites and more. It provides both platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) services and supports many different programming languages, tools and frameworks, including both Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems. It was launched in 2010. Within the Azure team

  • Business AI
  • Universal Store and Commerce
  • AI Perception and Mixed Reality
  • AI Cognitive Services and Platform

Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio[34] the set of programming tools and compilers. The software product is GUI-oriented and links easily with the Windows APIs, but must be specially configured if used with non-Microsoft libraries. Visual Studio supports development for both native Windows platform and .NET Framework. It was launched in 1995.

Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) software applications. Microsoft Dynamics was previously a separate engineering unit until it got reorganised into the Cloud & Enterprise Group in June 2015.[35]

AI and Research

This group was created in September 2016 to emphasize the company's presence on artificial intelligence. It was formed when parts of the former Apps and Services group came together with the research team to form a fourth engineering group.[3][36] Led by Harry Shum.

Bing

Bing (known previously as Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search) is a web search engine (advertised as a "decision engine"[37]) from Microsoft. As of 2015, it is the second largest search engine in the world, behind Google. A complete list of search offerings from Bing can be found here. Under Bing, below non-search offerings are also listed:

Research

Microsoft Research was created with the intent to advance state of the art computing and solve difficult world problems through technological innovation in collaboration with academic, government, and industry researchers.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ballmer, Steve. "One Microsoft: Company realigns to enable innovation at greater speed, efficiency". Microsoft. Microsoft. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "Microsoft aligns engineering teams to strategy". Microsoft News Center.
  3. 1 2 "Internal email: Microsoft forms new 5,000-person AI division; key exec Qi Lu leaving after bike injury". GeekWire. 2016-09-29. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
  4. ↑ "Satya Nadella email to employees: Embracing our future: Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge | Stories". Stories. 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  5. ↑ "Microsoft is ready for a world beyond Windows". The Verge. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  6. ↑ "Windows 10 has seven editions – here's how to tell which is for you". 29 May 2015.
  7. ↑ "Operating system market share".
  8. ↑ "Strategy Analytics: Tablet Market Falls 7 Percent in Q1 2018 while Top Vendors Play to Strengths". Strategy-Analytics. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  9. ↑ "A Guided Tour of Windows 10 IoT Core -". 15 July 2015.
  10. ↑ "Microsoft Phasing Out Windows Mobile 6.x". Redmondmag.com.
  11. ↑ Sherman, Joshua (30 September 2015). "Goodbye Windows Phone! Windows 10 will take it from here". Digital Trends.
  12. ↑ Reilly, Claire (2017-10-08). "Windows 10 Mobile gets its final death sentence". CNET. Retrieved 2017-10-09.
  13. ↑ Krebs, Brian (1 July 2006). "Microsoft to End Support Of Old Windows Versions" – via washingtonpost.com.
  14. ↑ Rundle, Michael. "The biggest Xbox One update in history finally has a launch date".
  15. ↑ Mayo, Benjamin (22 January 2016). "Mac users can now try out new Microsoft Office features early with 'Office Insider' program".
  16. ↑ "Office Mobile apps Word, PowerPoint and Excel see new updates arrive in store". On MSFT. 20 January 2016.
  17. ↑ "Office on mobile devices". Microsoft. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  18. ↑ "Microsoft Office Online Gets New Cloud Storage Options". InformationWeek.
  19. ↑ "Microsoft Brings Skype Closer to Unified Business Communication".
  20. ↑ Bright, Peter. "Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5 Billion. Why, Exactly?".
  21. ↑ "What Impressed Me the Most About Microsoft's HoloLens".
  22. ↑ "The History of the Xbox". 12 May 2013.
  23. ↑ "Midnight Madness Hypes Xbox 360 Launch". Retrieved 2006-07-03.
  24. ↑ "Xbox 360 sells out within hours". BBC News. 2005-12-02. Retrieved 2006-07-03.
  25. ↑ Tor Thorsen (2005-11-11). "360 to play 200-plus Xbox games". GameSpot. Retrieved 2006-07-14.
  26. ↑ Tor Thorsen (2005-12-09). "360 backward-compatibility update re-released". GameSpot. Retrieved 2006-07-14.
  27. ↑ Bishop, Todd (September 30, 2014). "MSN's rebirth brings Microsoft's new approach into focus". GeekWire. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
  28. ↑ Finney, Joseph (19 November 2014). "How has Microsoft's redesign of MSN.com affected daily site traffic?". WinBeta.
  29. ↑ "MSN Worldwide". Retrieved 2015-04-10.
  30. ↑ Foley, Mary Jo. "Microsoft rolls out its R Server big-data analytics line-up - ZDNet".
  31. ↑ Markoff, John (31 January 2016). "Microsoft Plumbs Ocean's Depths to Test Underwater Data Center" – via NYTimes.com.
  32. ↑ Foley, Mary Jo. "Microsoft to move Windows Server engineering team into Windows and Devices Group | ZDNet". ZDNet. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
  33. ↑ "Inside Microsoft's Azure Stack Private Cloud". 29 January 2016.
  34. ↑ "Microsoft open-sources Visual Studio Code, launches free Visual Studio Dev Essentials program".
  35. ↑ Foley, Mary Jo (18 June 2015). "How Microsoft's latest reorg will affect Dynamics CRM and ERP. Microsoft is bringing its Dynamics CRM and ERP businesses out of their silo and into the company's Cloud and Enterprise unit". ZDNet.
  36. ↑ Linke, Rebecca. "The reasoning behind Microsoft's new A.I. and Research Group". Computerworld. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
  37. ↑ "Welcome to Discover Bing". Discover Bing. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
  38. ↑ "Here's What's Changing With Bing Ads Now That It Includes AOL".
  39. ↑ "Bing Translator beta app for Windows 10 updated". MSPoweruser. 24 September 2015.
  40. ↑ "Bing Webmaster Tools Warns of Microsoft Edge Compatibility Issues". 8 January 2016.
  41. ↑ "How to Turn On and Use Cortana in Microsoft Edge".
  42. ↑ Bing Pulse real-time polling tools are now Microsoft Pulse real-time polling tools
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