Conspiracy theorists will no doubt find plenty to read into the timing of Microsoft’s announcement today of a shake-up in the leadership of its Windows division.

There was Google’s attention-grabbing announcement of an operating system to rival Windows, for a start. Perhaps this was enough to galvanise Microsoft into action – or at least provided a big enough diversion for the software company to slip through a reorganisation without attracting too much attention?

Then there is the pending launch of Windows 7. Is it a bad sign when the man responsible for marketing the company’s biggest product moves on, little more than three months before such an important launch?

The reality, though, looks far more prosaic. Read more