It was many moons ago that Joe Belfiore left Microsoft to take some time off and travel the globe. The day afterBelfiore left, the questions started popping up about if he would return and when he did, what would he be doing.
I have known for a few weeks that Belfiore had returned and now we know what he is doing. Joe will be running the consumer-focused windows Shell and will be reporting to Terry Myerson; his objective will be to find new ways to make money with Windows 10 as the traditional licensing model of the OS goes away, especially in the lower-priced segment.
There will be other responsibilities under his belt but this is the high-level objective and it may not sit well with some users. It’s not hard to figure out that this could be a way to introduce more advertising directly into Windows either with native advertisements or other ‘sponsored’ content. We know Microsoft is not shy about doing this and it’s clear that they have no intention removing that content from the OS.
I pinged Microsoft about Joe’s return and his new role, the company declined to comment.
So, for those who have been asking week-in and week-out about what Joe has been doing since his return to Microsoft, here’s your answer.
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