Microsoft spring cleans its Windows unit

With Vista out the door, Microsoft is reshuffling the leadership of the business side of its Windows unit.

A new Windows Business Group will be headed by Bill Veghte, a 17-year Microsoft veteran who has been serving as corporate vice president overseeing North American sales. Windows development remains under Steven Sinofsky, with both Sinofsky and Veghte reporting to Kevin Johnson, who leads the unit that oversees both Windows and Windows Live.

The move, along with several other changes in the Windows marketing and product management ranks, is the latest in an ongoing restructuring at Microsoft that began in September 2005, with the company reordering itself from five business units to three and announcing the retirement of co-president Jim Allchin. Allchin retired at the end of January.

Mike Sievert, who had been heading product marketing and product management, will now focus solely on the marketing side, while Mike Nash will take over product management. Sievert, who joined Microsoft from AT&T Wireless in 2005, and Nash, who headed Microsoft's security business unit until a recent sabbatical, will both report to Veghte. Brad Goldberg, who has been general manager of product management for Windows, is shifting to another unspecified role outside of the Windows unit but within Johnson's Platform and Services Division.

Also reporting to Veghte are Will Poole, who is heading Windows' market expansion efforts for emerging markets and new types of PCs, and Joe Peterson, who is leading the unit charged with online distribution and the Windows Genuine advantage anti-piracy effort.

The latest organisational changes come less than a month after Vista hit store shelves.

Ina Fried writes for CNET News.com