Steven Sinofsky - Experienced business and product development leader, independent investor, advisor, director | LinkedIn (original) (raw)

Experienced business and product development leader, independent investor, advisor, director

Hardcore Software: Inside the Rise and Fall of the PC Revolution

About

I am passionate about working with entrepreneurs building the next generation of software-driven products and services.

My career began at Microsoft in 1989 as a software design engineer in development tools. Working in product management, I became a senior executive on Microsoft Office overseeing six major releases of the full range of Office apps and servers. Most recently I was President of the Windows division through 2012 working on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Surface as well as Windows Services such as Outlook.com and SkyDrive.

With Harvard Business School professor Marco Iansiti, I've co-authored a book, "One Strategy: Organization, Planning, and Decision Making" based on internal blog posts written throughout the time I spent with the Windows team and business.

I have spent significant time outside the US focusing on the use and role of technology in developing markets. I've lived in China and am currently focused on learning in Africa.

In addition to writing as a LinkedIn Influencer, you can see more writing on my blog "Learning by Shipping" (https://medium.learningbyshipping.com/) or follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/stevesi.

Articles by Steven

One Softie's View of the Evolution of Windows APIs

A lot of people have been talking about the evolution or lack thereof of the Windows APIs, specifically the mess that…

Mac Neo and my afternoon of reflection and melancholy

I'm completely blown away by Mac Neo. It made me think a lot about what we tried to accomplish with Windows 8 more than…

Getting promoted to a tech or product you don't know requiring skills you don't have…

Promotions or reorgs can be extremely challenging when you take on a leadership role of a product that you have not…

Death of Software. Nah.

AI changes what we build and who builds it, but not how much needs to be built. Too much of what is going on with AI is…

DeepSeek Has Been Inevitable and Here's Why (History Tells Us)

TL;DR for this article: DeepSeek was certain to happen. The only unknown was who was going to do it.

Remembering Mike Maples, Sr.

The computer industry lost a legendary executive this week with the passing of Mike Maples, Sr. He was a mentor…

On CEO (and leader) Responsiveness

I’ve always loved “essay question” emails about the “how or why” of work. I used to turn these into blog posts and…

Management is not about asking people to do stuff

“It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself” said Eleanor Roosevelt and one of the most…

Social Progress and the Corporation (Essay)

We know companies exist to turn invested capital into products and services, benefitting society along the way…

My Tablet Has Stickers

When I received my new 9.7” iPad Pro I decided to break tablet tradition and personalize it with stickers, just as I’ve…

Activity

Experience

Hardcore Software: Inside the Rise and Fall of the PC Revolution

Jan 2020 - Present6 years 6 months
Redmond, Washington, United States

Board Member

Everlaw

Jan 2016 - Present10 years 6 months
Remote

Advisory Board Member

Tanium

Jun 2014 - Present12 years 1 month
Oakland, CA

Advisor

Box

Aug 2013 - Present12 years 11 months
Los Altos, CA, USA

Board Member

Product Hunt

Oct 2014 - Dec 2016 2 years 3 months
Remote

One Strategy: Organization, Planning, and Decision Making

Nov 2009 - Nov 2009 1 month

Freelance

May 1982 - Sep 1982 5 months
Orlando, Florida, United States

Pizza Cook

Godfather's Pizza

Sep 1981 - May 1982 9 months
Altamonte Springs, Florida, United States

Retail Salesworker

Sports Unlimited

Jun 1980 - Sep 1980 4 months
Altamonte Springs, Florida, United States

Education

Diploma

1979 - 1983
"School of the future, Lake Brantley High"

6-8th 6-8

5th

Patents

Issued May 1, 2012 US US 8171394 B2

Systems and methods are disclosed for providing a user interface. The disclosed systems and methods may include receiving a request to initiate an application program configured to generate a data file. Furthermore, the disclosed systems and methods may include displaying, by the initiated application program, a property panel in response to the request. The property panel may be configured to receive meta-data to be associated with the data file generated by the application program. Also, the…
Systems and methods are disclosed for providing a user interface. The disclosed systems and methods may include receiving a request to initiate an application program configured to generate a data file. Furthermore, the disclosed systems and methods may include displaying, by the initiated application program, a property panel in response to the request. The property panel may be configured to receive meta-data to be associated with the data file generated by the application program. Also, the property panel may be configured to provide the only place to receive the meta-data by the application program. Moreover, the disclosed systems and methods may include receiving the meta-data in the property panel.

Issued June 12, 2007 US US 7231597 B1

A method, apparatus, and computer readable medium for creating asides within an electronic document are provided. The keystroke combination is defined for creating an aside with an electronic document. If the keystroke combination is received, a location is identified within the electronic document for an aside object. Once the location for the aside has been determined, an outline object is created at the location. The outline object holds text or other contents for the aside. An insertion…
A method, apparatus, and computer readable medium for creating asides within an electronic document are provided. The keystroke combination is defined for creating an aside with an electronic document. If the keystroke combination is received, a location is identified within the electronic document for an aside object. Once the location for the aside has been determined, an outline object is created at the location. The outline object holds text or other contents for the aside. An insertion point is then placed within the object. The user may then enter keystrokes or other data into the second object. If the keystroke combination is again entered, the insertion point is returned to its location immediately prior to moving the insertion point to the aside object. The keystroke combination for creating an aside and the keystroke combination for returning from the aside may be identical. Asides may also be created in various portions of an electronic document, such as a title portion, in a similar manner.

Issued August 15, 1995 US US 5442793 A

A mechanism for locating and calling an appropriate member function to process a message or command in an event-based system is provided. An object data structure contains data members and a pointer to a virtual function table. The virtual function table contains pointers to member functions associated with the object. The virtual function table contains a pointer to a member function that returns the address of a message map. The message map contains two entries: a pointer to a base message…
A mechanism for locating and calling an appropriate member function to process a message or command in an event-based system is provided. An object data structure contains data members and a pointer to a virtual function table. The virtual function table contains pointers to member functions associated with the object. The virtual function table contains a pointer to a member function that returns the address of a message map. The message map contains two entries: a pointer to a base message map and a pointer to an array of message map entries. The array of message map entries contains the addresses and parameters of member functions. A default window procedure member function searches the array of message map entries to locate a desired member function. If the desired member function is not located in the array of message map entries for the derived class, then the window procedure member function searches the array of message map entries for the base class of the derived class.

Issued June 7, 1995 US US 5664178 A

A method and system for storing data in a file is provided. The present invention provides for data to be organized within a compound document as a file bundle. A file bundle is a file system file that contains sub-files, which may be organized hierarchically. The data within a file bundle file is preferably stored in a format defined by the program that generates the data. The program that generates the data can open the file bundle created by another program and directly access the data…
A method and system for storing data in a file is provided. The present invention provides for data to be organized within a compound document as a file bundle. A file bundle is a file system file that contains sub-files, which may be organized hierarchically. The data within a file bundle file is preferably stored in a format defined by the program that generates the data. The program that generates the data can open the file bundle created by another program and directly access the data within the file bundle file.

Honors & Awards

Jonathan Marx Foundation

Jun 1987
Co-recipient of yearly award given to outstanding all-around graduating senior in computer science at Cornell.

Hugh O'brian Youth Leadership Foundation

May 1980
Chosen from entire class as representative to nationwide HOBY conference, a prestigious (at the time) and selective organization started by the television actor famous for "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp".

Sertoma International (Service to Mankind)

May 1976
Won essay contest celebrating the US bicentennial at Spring Lake Elementary.

Camp Treasure Island, Oceanside, New York.

Aug 1974
Won award as most representative of camp values for entire day camp that summer.

More activity by Steven

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