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Who's the man responsible for cuts to internal spending at Microsoft? Here's a hint: he's feared, hated and respected by Windows developers: Steven Sinofsky, the SVP of Windows and Windows Live development, who's been mooted as a successor to Bill Gates. Sinofsky used to run Microsoft Office development, where he earned a reputation for "making the trains run on time." That landed him in charge of making sure fiascos like Vista never happen again. One problem, though.

Our source tells us, "Windows and Office are like two COMPLETELY separate companies." Sinofsky's hard-driving management style doesn't suit Windows developers. Says our source:

If I had another share of Microsoft for every time I head "fuck" and "Sinofksy" in the same sentence from Windows people, well let's just say I would be rivaling Bill Gates's wealth.

Our source admits he's got an axe to grind — "I'm feeling the Sinofsky crunch and hate him too" — and even says, "Don't get me wrong, he will make sure Windows ships on time." But only "at the cost of our environment, how Windows works."

You may have noticed with the Windows betas being so open, and occurring so early in the development stage that Windows really does value customer feedback. At Office, where the beta is late in the development cycle, and they really don't have the beta out there for feedback, but rather just to squash bugs. Sinofsky has brought that sort of policy where feedback means jack sh*t. It sort of does hurt the product. Customer feedback used to mean so much