Less than a month away from the official launch of two quite important products, Windows 8 and the Surface tablet, Microsoft decided to say goodbye to its key man. Although, according to Microsoft press release at least, the move was a mutual decision by Sinofsky and the company, Allthingd.com reports that its sources are pointing out at growing tension between Sinofsky and other top executives and although seen as highly talented, Sinofsky was viewed at the top levels as not being the team player that the company was looking for.

In its official press release, Steve Ballmer praised the work of Steven Sinofsky and was "being grateful for the many years of work that Steven has contributed to the company, but has also talked about an imperative to continue to drive alignment across all Microsoft teams in order to have more integrated and rapid development cycles for its offerings.

Sinofsky briefly commented on its years spent at Microsoft and praised the company. "It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft,” Sinofsky said. “I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company.”

The work previously done by Steven Sinofsky will be divided between two deputies. Julie Larson-Green will take over an engineering side of Windows, while Tami Reller will take care of the business side.

You can check out more here.