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Steven Sinofsky

Steven Sinofsky

American software engineer and investor, former Windows president at Microsoft

Every podcast episode featuring Steven Sinofsky that Attunex has found: 163 interviews and appearances across 11 shows between 2016 and 2026. Most often on Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition) (107), The a16z Show (38) and The Aarthi and Sriram Show (6). Often in conversation with Erik Torenberg, Benedict Evans and Theo Jaffee. Follow Steven in Attunex to get new appearances automatically, each with an on-device transcript and summary.

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Updated 2026-10-14.

  1. Aaron Levie, Steven Sinofsky & Martin Casado: How Do You Secure a World of AI Agents?
    The a16z Show

    Erik Torenberg sits down with Box CEO Aaron Levie, and a16z’s Martin Casado, and Steven Sinofsky to debate how the AI industry should think about safety, security, and regulation as increasingly…

    2026-09-26
  2. a16z Podcast: Why AI Breakthroughs May Come from Outside the Big Labs
    AI Podcast Summaries from Transcripted.ai (VIDEO)AI

    AI’s biggest breakthroughs may be happening far beyond the frontier labs—and the conversation around safety, regulation, and security is far messier than it looks. In this concise summary of the a16z…

    2026-09-26
  3. AI Safety Language Is Destroying the Debate | Steven Sinofsky
    The a16z Show

    a16z Board Partner and former Microsoft Windows president Steven Sinofsky joins Theo Jaffee and Sofia Puccini on MTS to argue that the language we use to describe AI failures is making it harder to…

    2026-09-21
  4. AI Safety Language Is Destroying the Debate | Steven Sinofsky
    MTS

    Former Windows President Steven Sinofsky breaks down why treating AI failures as "alignment issues" rather than software bugs is damaging the industry. Drawing from decades of software history—from…

    2026-09-20
  5. The New Economics of AI | Martin Casado & Steven Sinofsky
    The a16z Show

    a16z General Partners Martin Casado and Erik Torenberg are joined by Board Partner Steven Sinofsky to explore what recent breakthroughs in AI and mathematics tell us about where the technology is…

    2026-08-25
  6. a16z Podcast: AI, Capital, and the Abdication of Reasoning with Steven Sinofsky
    AI Podcast Summaries from Transcripted.ai (VIDEO)AI

    AI is changing computing from the ground up—and Steven Sinofsky argues the biggest shift may be economic, not just technical. In this condensed summary of the a16z Podcast episode, hear how the full…

    2026-08-25
  7. Steven Sinofsky: AI Doesn't Need New Rules Yet
    The a16z Show

    Steven Sinofsky joins Theo Jaffee and Sofia Puccini for a conversation on AI regulation, open-source models, and what history can teach us about technological revolutions. Drawing on decades of…

    2026-07-27
  8. a16z Podcast: Steven Sinofsky on the New Rules of AI-Driven Enterprise Software
    AI Podcast Summaries from Transcripted.ai (VIDEO)AI

    As AI agents move software from screens to systems, the real moat in enterprise software shifts from UI to the logic, data, and business rules underneath. In this condensed recap of the a16z Podcast,…

    2026-07-24
  9. Is Software Losing Its Head?
    The a16z Show

    Seema Amble, Steven Sinofsky, and Elena Burger unpack one of the biggest questions facing enterprise software: what happens when AI agents become the primary users of software instead of humans? The…

    2026-07-07
  10. Why Tech's "Hardware Optimists" Are Stacking Mac Minis in the Near Term | Steven Sinofsky | 🟡🔴🔵 MTS Live
    MTS

    Steven Sinofsky joins MTS to discuss the ongoing shift from centralized cloud infrastructure to localized device compute, how token cost structures and consumer hardware memory constraints influence…

    2026-06-02
  11. Steven Sinofsky on AI PCs, NVIDIA, and the Future of Computing
    The a16z Show

    Theo Jaffee speaks with Steven Sinofsky about the next generation of personal computing and the growing role of AI-native hardware. The conversation covers NVIDIA’s entry into the PC market,…

    2026-06-02
  12. Nvidia N1X processors power local Windows AI
    SciTech BriefAI

    Is the Intel and AMD era finally over? On May 30, 2026 , Nvidia, Microsoft, and Arm synchronized a cryptic message: "A new era of PC". In today’s episode, we decode the massive leak of the Nvidia N1X…

    2026-06-01
  13. Why Big Companies Are Falling Behind on AI — a16z Podcast (12-min Condensed)
    AI Podcast Summaries from Transcripted.ai (VIDEO)AI

    Top-down “We need more AI” mandates fail unless companies first fix data, governance, and workflows. Condensed from a 60-minute episode to 12 minutes, this summary with guests Steven Sinofsky, Aaron…

    2026-04-28
  14. Steven Sinofsky, Aaron Levie, Martin Casado on The Silicon Valley Gap, Agents as Users, Integration Walls | MTS Live
    MTS

    Steven Sinofsky, Aaron Levie, and Martin Casado join MTS to discuss the widening gap between Silicon Valley and enterprise AI adoption, why agents should be treated more like humans than software,…

    2026-04-27
  15. AI Inside the Enterprise
    The a16z Show

    Steven Sinofsky, board partner at a16z, Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, and Martin Casado, general partner at a16z, discuss the reality of AI inside enterprises. They cover the gap between Silicon Valley…

    2026-04-24
  16. What Running Windows at Microsoft Taught Steven Sinofsky About Apple
    The a16z Show

    Theo Jaffee speaks with Steven Sinofsky, board partner at a16z and former president of the Windows division at Microsoft, about Apple's 50th anniversary, the cultural differences that separated Apple…

    2026-04-10
  17. The Agent Era: Building Software Beyond Chat with Box CEO Aaron Levie
    The a16z Show

    Erik Torenberg, Steve Sinofsky, and Martin Casado speak to Aaron Levie, CEO at Box, about what happens to enterprise software when agents become the primary users. They discuss why coding agents…

    2026-04-08
  18. Convincing AI the Earth is Flat, Inference at 17k tokens/sec, and an Agile Manifesto for the Agentic Age?
    Artificial Developer IntelligenceMentioned

    This episode covers Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 3.1 Pro model releases, Taalas Labs FPGA-based 17K tokens/sec hardware, the Meta-AMD chip partnership, Steven Sinofsky's argument against "software is dead,"…

    2026-02-27
  19. The Big Tech Execs in The Epstein Files
    The Lunduke Journal of TechnologyMentioned

    Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Sergey Brin, Steven Sinofsky, Richard Branson, and Steve Ballmer. All in the Epstein Files... but for different reasons. Plus: The BASH manual.…

    2026-02-04
  20. Software finally eats services - Aaron Levie
    The a16z Show

    Should the US put a price on H-1B visas, or would that block the flow of new talent? Are AI coding agents actually making teams way more productive, or is it just hype? And in the AI platform shift,…

    2025-09-24
  21. Aaron Levie and Steven Sinofsky on the AI-Worker Future
    The a16z Show

    What exactly is an AI agent, and how will agents change the way we work? In this episode, a16z general partners Erik Torenberg and Martin Casado sit down with Aaron Levie (CEO, Box) and Steven…

    2025-08-25
  22. Steven Sinofsky & Balaji Srinivasan on the Future of AI, Tech, & the Global World Order
    The a16z Show

    There’s been a wave of M&A deals lately - Meta and Scale, Windsurf and Google - and a lot of it points to something bigger: how regulation, capital, and innovation are colliding in 2025. In this…

    2025-08-11
  23. Riding the Internet Tidal Wave
    Beyond the Blue BadgeMentioned

    Paradigm shift offers tsunami of opportunities Before streaming, smartphones, and instant access to everything, there was a seismic shift that changed the world—and Microsoft was at the heart of it.…

    2025-08-04
  24. Where We Are in the AI Cycle
    The a16z Show

    In this episode of ‘This Week in Consumer’, a16z General Partners Anish Acharya and Erik Torenberg are joined by Steven Sinofsky - Board Partner at a16z and former President of Microsoft’s Windows…

    2025-06-27
  25. Cluely Raises $15M from a16z, $45M Modern Hacienda in the Wild | Steven Sinofsky, Anupam Singh, Miles Moen, Alexander Sen, Bryan Kim, Roy Lee, Dave Fontenot
    TBPN

    (07:13) - $45M Modern Hacienda in the Wild (18:11) - Timeline (33:42) - Intern Tests Cluely Live (01:22:29) - Steven Sinofsky, a former Microsoft executive, led the development of Windows 7 and 8…

    2025-06-20
  26. How Apple Became So Reliant on China & What it Means For Their Future
    The a16z Show

    What if the rise of Apple also built modern China? a16z’s Erik Torenberg is joined by board partner and former Microsoft Windows chief Steven Sinofsky to unpack how Apple’s pursuit of design…

    2025-06-18
  27. DeepSeek: America’s Sputnik Moment for AI?
    The a16z Show

    Two words have caught the Internet by storm. DeepSeek. The Chinese reasoning model r1 is rivaling others at the frontier with an open-source MIT license, methods that some claim may be 45x more…

    2025-02-06
  28. ARCHIVE: The Dream of AI Is Alive in AlphaGo
    AI + a16z

    In this archive episode from 2015, a16z's Sonal Chokshi, Frank Chen, and Steven Sinofsky discuss DeepMind's breakthrough AlphaGo system, which mastered the ancient Chinese game Go and introduced the…

    2024-07-05
  29. The Future According to Steven Sinofsky
    Boz To The Future

    In today’s episode, our host, Meta CTO and Head of Reality Labs Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, is joined by technologist and author of Hardcore Software Steven Sinofsky to talk about the recurring lessons of…

    2024-01-05
  30. Bonus: Advice For Artificial Intelligence Founders Ft. Marc Andreessen, Emad Mostaque, Alex Wang, More
    The Aarthi and Sriram Show

    A year-end compilation of some of the best nuggets on all things AI from the Aarthi and Sriram Show. _ Show notes: (00:00) The state of AI's progress ft. Alex Wang (02:00) Advice for AI founders ft.…

    2023-12-24
  31. Dev War Stories, with Steven Sinofsky (a16z, ex-Microsoft) - S04E01
    Console DevTools

    In this episode, we speak with Steven Sinofsky , currently a board partner at Andreessen Horowitz and previously of Microsoft . We discuss what it was like shipping code at Microsoft in the early…

    2023-04-27
  32. EP 36 - Marc Andreessen and Steven Sinofsky Talk Sentience, Ethics, Job Impacts, and the Future of AI
    Podcast Notes Playlist: Signal From The Noise: By Podcast Notes

    Aarthi and Sriram's Good Time Show: Read the notes at at podcastnotes.org . Don't forget to subscribe for free to our newsletter, the top 10 ideas of the week, every Monday --------- In this episode,…

    2023-03-06
  33. EP 36 - Marc Andreessen and Steven Sinofsky Talk Sentience, Ethics, Job Impacts, and the Future of AI
    The Aarthi and Sriram Show

    In this episode, the gang gets back together! Marc Andreessen and Steven Sinofsky are back to talk about all things AI. We cover the rise of ChatGPT, Bing's AI powered chat Sydney, AI ethics,…

    2023-02-25
  34. EP 26 - Steven Sinofsky on leading Office & Windows at Microsoft and the art of writing well
    The Aarthi and Sriram Show

    This week's special guest is Steven Sinofsky, one of our favorite techno-optimists responsible for shipping Windows and Office products at Microsoft used by billions of people. He is also the author…

    2022-12-17
  35. 108. The End of the PC Revolution [Epilogue]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to the final installment of Hardcore Software. It has been an amazing journey in the 115 or so sections including bonus posts. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to those of you that have…

    2022-12-04
  36. 107. Click In With Surface
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Happy Holiday to those in the US. This is a special double issue covering the creation and launch of Microsoft Surface, an integral part of the reimagining of Windows from the chipset to the…

    2022-11-20
  37. 106. The Missing Start Menu
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    This section was the most difficult to write. At least people look back favorably on Clippy. The Windows 8 Start screen lacks any kitsch or sentimental value. It was the wrong design for the product…

    2022-11-13
  38. 105. New Ultrabooks, Old Office, and the Big Consumer Preview
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    The previous section detailed the release of the Windows 8 platform, WinRT, for building Metro-style apps. In the reimagining of Windows from the chipset to the experience, we’ve covered all the…

    2022-11-06
  39. 104. //build It and They Will Come (Hopefully)
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Imagine building a computing platform that powers a generation. Now imagine taking the big step of building the replacement for that platform while the original needs to keep going for another decade…

    2022-10-30
  40. 103. The End of Windows Software
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    A reasonable question to ask is “Why did Windows 8 need to create a new platform?” Not only did Microsoft have Win32, the tried-and-true real and compatible Windows platform, but the company had…

    2022-10-23
  41. 102. The Experience
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    A challenge that comes with writing down experiences occurs when writing about events that readers lived through, have strong opinions about, and feel they know the full story. My purpose here is to…

    2022-10-16
  42. 101. Reimagining Windows from the Chipset to the Experience: The Chipset [Ch. XV]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to Chapter XV! This is the final chapter of Hardcore Software. In this chapter, we are going to build and release Windows 8—reimagining Windows from the chipset to the experience. First up,…

    2022-10-09
  43. 100. A Daring and Bold Vision
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Hardcore Software has shared the vision planning process for five releases of Office and Windows 7. Though not detailed we followed the same process for two waves of Windows Live Services as well as…

    2022-10-02
  44. 099. The Magical iPad
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    The launch of an innovative new product is always exciting. The launch of an innovate new product from a competitor is even more exciting. But what is it like when your main competitor launches an…

    2022-09-25
  45. 098. A Sea of Worry at the Consumer Electronics Show
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    The planning for Windows 8 was moving right along. But something wasn’t right as we wrapped up Windows 7 activities at CES 2010. It was looking more and more like the plans and the way the ecosystem…

    2022-09-18
  46. 097. A Plan for a Changing World [Ch. XIV]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to Chapter XIV. This is the first of two chapters and about a dozen remaining posts that cover the context, development, and release of Windows 8. Many reading this will bring their own vivid…

    2022-09-11
  47. 096. Ultraseven (Launching Windows 7)
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    In the era of “boxed” software release to manufacturing was a super special moment. The software is done, and the bits permanently pressed onto a DVD disc. That disc, the golden master, is then…

    2022-08-28
  48. 095. Welcome to Windows 7, Everyone
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    While it is incredibly fun to do a first demo of a big product as described in the previous section, there is something that tops that and even tops the actual release to manufacturing. That is…

    2022-08-21
  49. 094. First Public Windows 7 Demo
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    In an era of huge software projects with a zillion new features in every release, there’s little more exciting than the first public demos. Such demos are also incredibly stressful to pull off. In…

    2022-08-14
  50. 093. Netbook Mania
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    The Windows team was plugging away on Windows 7. The outside world was still mired in the Vista doldrums. Then in the summer of 2007 there was a wakeup call in the announcement and shipment of a new…

    2022-08-07
  51. 092. Platform Disruption…While Building Windows 7 [Ch. XIII]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to Chapter XIII! In this chapter we build Windows 7 and bring it to market. We start with all the forces that were shaping up to “disrupt” Microsoft (in the now classic sense) including the…

    2022-07-31
  52. 091. Cleaning Up Longhorn and Vista
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Whenever you take on a new role you hope that you can just move forward and start work on what comes next without looking back. No job transition is really like that. In my case, even though I had…

    2022-07-24
  53. 090. I’m a Mac
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Advertising is much more difficult than just about everyone believes to be the case. In fact, one of the most challenging tasks for any executive at any company is to step back and not get involved…

    2022-07-17
  54. 089. Rebooting the PC Ecosystem
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    The word ecosystem is often used when describing Windows and the universe of companies that come together to deliver Windows PCs and software. Providing a platform is a much trickier business than…

    2022-07-10
  55. 088. Planning the Most Important Windows Ever
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    One of the main challenges in leading a big team is that nothing ever seems to finish—there’s always more to building a team. Even at milestones, one looks ahead and sees more work to do. In the…

    2022-07-03
  56. Insights From Coinbase On The Future Of Crypto - Brian Armstrong
    The Aarthi and Sriram Show

    On this episode of The Good Time Show, we interviewed Brian Armstrong, the founder and CEO of Coinbase, along with our usual guests, Marc Andreessen and Steven Sinofsky. We covered the current crypto…

    2022-06-28
  57. What The Market Downturn Means For Founders, VCs, And Web3
    The Aarthi and Sriram Show

    On this episode of The Good Time Show, Aarthi and Sriram cover the current economic conditions and what it means for technology startups and founders, as well as what it could mean for the future of…

    2022-06-28
  58. Marc Andreessen on the economy, crypto, memes and more
    The Aarthi and Sriram Show

    On this episode of the Good Time Show, we have our special guests - Marc Andreessen and Steven Sinofsky - joining us. We covered memes and meme culture, Marc's latest set of tweets on The Current…

    2022-06-28
  59. 087. Reorg! Why Are We Together, Exactly?
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    After thinking and writing to provide context to BillG, SteveB, and KevinJo, I had to begin the real work of changing the team. As much as I would have liked to avoid the second step of the “Three…

    2022-06-26
  60. 086. The Memo (Part 2)
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    The previous section detailed the raw observations on Windows and Services culture I saw after weeks of hearing about the situation from as many people as I could. I could not just put that out there…

    2022-06-19
  61. 083. Living the Odd-Even Curse [Ch. XII]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to Chapter XII, where Hardcore Software turns from Office and enterprise customers to Windows and consumers (and PC makers). For many readers, this will also be a bit more of their own lived…

    2022-05-29
  62. 082. Defying Conventional Wisdom to Finish Office
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    As we conclude the story of Office12 and the major redesign of the product, Microsoft of late 2005 to early 2006 is in a bit of a lull which for better or worse is good for the launch of Office.…

    2022-05-22
  63. 081. First Feedback and a Surprise
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    We’d been working on Office12 for almost two years and the product had made enormous progress. The team was buzzing, and everyone was very excited. This product was different. We were building…

    2022-05-15
  64. 080. Progress From Vision to Beta
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    This section tells the story of a plan coming together and the breadth of the release. We did have a bit of a speed bump early on. I was told to align schedules with Windows Longhorn (the next…

    2022-05-08
  65. 079. Competing Designs, Better Design
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    A common belief in big companies with resources to spare is that innovation works better when there is a competition between multiple efforts with the same goal. It is a luxury most companies don’t…

    2022-05-01
  66. 078. A Tour of “Ye Olde Museum Of Office Past”
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to “Ye Olde Museum Of Office Past.” This section is one of the more deeply product-focused of Hardcore Software. I hope to make it fun. In this section, I will go through the history and…

    2022-04-24
  67. Tesla and the Nature of Disruption
    The a16z Show

    In this re-run from September 2018, Benedict Evans and Steven Sinofsky talk all about Tesla — and more broadly, the nature of disruption overall. How disruptive is Tesla really, and what exactly are…

    2022-04-21
  68. 077. What Is Software Bloat, Really?
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    In this and the next five sections, the story of Office12 (Office 2007) unfolds. This is really the story of the development of the new user interface for Office, which became known as the Ribbon. To…

    2022-04-17
  69. 076. Chasing The Low-End Product [Ch. XI. Betting Big to Fend Off Commoditization]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to a new chapter. As we approached the launch of the massive Microsoft Office System 2003, it was time to plan a new release and that started by drawing a proverbial line, at least I felt so.…

    2022-04-10
  70. 075. Scaling and Transitions
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Wrapping up the development of Office 2003 was an enormously challenging time for me personally, while the team continued to do well finishing a release with an unprecedented breadth and depth. At…

    2022-04-03
  71. 074. Outlook Pride, Finally
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Each module of Office deserves a shot at being the hero of a release. That’s how a healthy product bundle should move forward, rather than relying on a single anchor. Excel 5.0, Word 97, PowerPoint…

    2022-03-27
  72. 073. **DO NOT FORWARD**
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    As readers of this chapter have seen, the theme of Office11 continues to be enterprise, though now it is turned up to 11 so to speak. Despite my concerns about end-users and reviewers, the…

    2022-03-20
  73. 072. Notes on Tablet PC Innovation
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Few products have captured as much attention as Microsoft’s Tablet PC (except perhaps Xbox, which coincidently launched the same year). The company’s history working to deliver the form factor goes…

    2022-03-13
  74. 071. Resolving NetDocs v. Office
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    With the announcement of .NET, Microsoft was overflowing with projects, many not yet products, destined to become the next big thing in one area or another. Everything had a “Net” somewhere in the…

    2022-03-06
  75. 070. Office.NOT
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to the only project I worked on that had the plans upended at the last minute after one executive meeting. This is a journey that starts back at the 1999 Company Meeting and the unveiling of…

    2022-02-27
  76. 069. Mega-Scale, Mega-Complexity [Ch. X]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to Chapter X! The turn of a new century and survival of “Y2K” begins a massive expansion of the Office product line, a dramatic change in the products we built, and a reinvention of how we…

    2022-02-20
  77. 068. The XP eXPerience
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    The last months of a product development cycle the scale and length of Office10 are moments of calm punctuated by moments of terror. The calm comes from the lack of code changes as thousands of…

    2022-02-13
  78. 067. MYR-CDG: Product Meets Sales
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Microsoft was often viewed as a Borg-like structure though we’ve already seen when it came to product development it was decidedly of two cultures. The huge and growing global sales force so…

    2022-02-06
  79. 066. Killing a Killer Feature In Outlook, Again
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Enterprise software customers learn about roadmaps and plans long before the development team has robust execution plans. That’s part of the business. No matter how much these discussions with…

    2022-01-30
  80. 065. SharePoint: Office Builds Our Own Server
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    I admit up front this will be one of my favorite sections to offer. SharePoint was a remarkable point in the history of Office as we expanded the product line from desktop Win32 applications to…

    2022-01-23
  81. 064. The Start of Office v. NetDocs
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Microsoft went through so much in the first year of the millennium. It began with SteveB taking on the role of CEO and BillG taking on a new role as Chief Software Architect. Over the first months of…

    2022-01-16
  82. 063. Managing the Antitrust Verdict
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Back to 062. Split Up Microsoft We received little guidance regarding how to talk about legal matters. I was never under orders to avoid speaking about the trial, though that seemed like common…

    2022-01-09
  83. 062. Split Up Microsoft
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Writing about the antitrust court case and the final judgement can be difficult. The topic has been covered extensively and by my own count, of the dozen or so books about Microsoft almost all of…

    2022-01-09
  84. 061. BSoD to Watson: The Reliability Journey
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Happy New Year! I want to offer a short but sincere thank you to all the subscribers, readers, and sharers who have made the past eleven months of Hardcore Software an incredible experience in…

    2022-01-02
  85. 060. ILOVEYOU
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Viruses were nothing new in the late twentieth century, but we were about to cross a line where they were far more than annoyances. This is the story leading up to and crossing that line and the very…

    2021-12-26
  86. 059. Scaling…Everything
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    It is one thing to change a product in order to meet market needs, but entirely another to change the culture. Scaling the teams and processes to meet the needs of our high-paying enterprise…

    2021-12-19
  87. 058. Synergy
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to planning Office10 and going inside the strategy, synergy, unification engine that characterized the early 2000s Microsoft (beginning in late 1998). This is a beefy post (too long for…

    2021-12-12
  88. 057. Enterprise Agreements [Ch. IX]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to Chapter IX, taking place 1999 to 2001 where the world realized just how dependent it had become on email and the PC when viruses became a mainstream part of the technology vernacular. In…

    2021-12-05
  89. 056. Going Global . . . Mother Tree
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Launching a product in a local market, natively so to speak, is an extraordinarily special experience. It is so special that for nearly every product I worked on I chose to be outside the US and…

    2021-11-21
  90. 055. Office 2000 is Good to Go!
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Office9 (aka Office 2000) was the very first release of Microsoft Office built by a team that began the project and ended the project as one. Well, almost as there was that pesky Outlook challenge.…

    2021-11-14
  91. 054. Steve and Steven Get New Jobs
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Steve Ballmer was named Microsoft president in July 1998. There was not much fanfare because it seemed an entirely natural progression of his role at the company, partnership with Bill, and…

    2021-11-07
  92. 053. Strategy Tax: Outlook Storage, First Attempt
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Most tend to think of Microsoft strategy as the march from BASIC to DOS to Windows to Azure. While that is a robust external narrative, the more interesting view is how the company changed…

    2021-10-31
  93. 052. Alleviating Bloatware, First Attempt
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    What happens when your biggest strength and greatest asset as a product development organization becomes your biggest weakness? Perhaps that is inevitable. With so many potential disruptive forces,…

    2021-10-24
  94. Episode 325: Nothing says Enterprise like a function key
    Software Defined TalkMentioned

    This week we discuss TriggerMesh going open source, the new Enterprise Mac and Honeycomb raising VC . Plus, will Matt become a TikTok influencer…? Rundown Introducing TriggerMesh Open Source…

    2021-10-22
  95. 051. HTML: Opportunity, Disruption, or Wedge
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    While we knew the time was wrong to build a whole new Office out of one of the new disruptive technologies, we did need to arrive at a strategy for HTML. After the debacle of the file format changes…

    2021-10-17
  96. 050. The Team's Plan in the Face of Disruption
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    With the looming threat of disruption, at least according to everyone at the company and the desire to get moving on adding new features to the apps, there was a need to have a strategy in place.…

    2021-10-10
  97. 049. Go Get This Rock
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    The most difficult thing to do in a big company is change a core belief. Microsoft was going through a late 1990s change, and rather unevenly. We were moving from a company primarily or almost…

    2021-10-03
  98. 048. Pizza for 20 Million People
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Few recall our products being developed at the end of the 20th century, but they were the foundation of modern Microsoft: Windows NT 5.0 (Windows 2000 Server and Workstation), Office9 (Office 2000),…

    2021-09-26
  99. 047. Don’t Ship the Org Chart
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    The Microsoft sales force had a ritual of reorganizing every fiscal year, like clockwork. The Platforms teams always seemed to be in some state of organization change, at least to me. Office, on the…

    2021-09-19
  100. 046. Prioritizing a New Type of Customer [Ch. VIII]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    This new chapter begins the middle of the PC era, starting in 1998, as I experienced. In a very short time, the industry from customers to suppliers, went through enormous change. It is easy to look…

    2021-09-12
  101. 045. Incompatible Files, Slipping, Office 97 RTM
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Back to 044. Our First Big M&A Deal (Beating Netscape) Please keep the feedback rolling in. This post concludes with shipping Office 97. It represents the end of the first era of the PC, where the…

    2021-09-05
  102. 044. Our First Big M&A Deal (Beating Netscape)
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Office had been early and aggressive inserting Internet technologies across the product, including hyperlinks (so new!) and HTML, as well, sort of, email with Outlook. We started to notice a…

    2021-08-29
  103. 043. DIM Outlook
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    I’ve received so much positive feedback which I do not thank readers enough for. A few have asked for more sooner, so I am going to see about a slightly increased frequency and how that goes. Please…

    2021-08-22
  104. 042. Clippy, The F*cking Clown
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    As a company gains success and grows, taking risks becomes, well, riskier. The costs of failure come front and center, as the ability for a company to play out scenarios where something would not…

    2021-08-15
  105. 041. Scaling the Office Infrastructure and Platform
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Perhaps more than any particular feature in what would become Office 97, though there were a lot of features, the biggest innovation was building the organization and culture supporting a shared…

    2021-08-08
  106. 040. Creating the First Real Office [Ch. VII]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to Chapter VII, 1995 to 1997 and Office 97. As PC sales surge, growing at a rate of 60 percent in 1996, the enormity of the internet becomes widely realized and will soon dwarf the impact of…

    2021-08-01
  107. 039. Start Me Up
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    It has been 26 years since the Windows 95 launch and still no launch from any company has come close to the global scale and impact of the event. There have been big events and massive opening…

    2021-07-25
  108. 038. Designed for Windows 95
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    A quick story about something that felt like a corporate or ecosystem tax, the “Designed for Windows 95” logo. Back to 037. Capone and Email Without Typos By early 1995, the most essential elements…

    2021-07-23
  109. 037. Capone and Email Without Typos
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    All we wanted to do was bring the rich formatting and lack of typos people experienced with Word to email. We saw how email was replacing many uses for Word and figured it seemed like a good idea to…

    2021-07-18
  110. 036. Fancy Wizard and Red Squiggles
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Office94 (still the working name for what would become Office 95) was primarily about working with Windows 95 and shipping on the same day. That led to the constraint of having a relatively small…

    2021-07-11
  111. 035. Windows 95, August or Bust [Ch. VI]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    1994 to 1995: Sharing code and processes to build Office pays off and the concept of the suite takes hold in the market. The Windows schedule becomes a death march to finish what is hoped to be a…

    2021-07-01
  112. 034. Office94, Office96
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    With the Office Product Unit in place, and the outline of a plan to release with Chicago in about a year (whenever Chicago was finishing, which was unclear) and a second major release of Office a…

    2021-06-25
  113. 033. Creating the Office Product Unit, OPU
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    The most difficult transition for most new companies is going from a single product to multiple products, something Microsoft managed to pull off fairly early. Inevitably, the next transition is one…

    2021-06-20
  114. 032. Winning With the Suite
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Strategically, the bundling-unbundling arc or cycle is one of the most common dynamics in technology. Something that starts off as a single product or category inevitably becomes part of a bundle of…

    2021-06-14
  115. 031. Synchronizing Windows and Office (the First Time) [Ch. V]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to Chapter V. Subscribers, if this were a printed book then you’ve just read through a typical trade press book by word count. Since we’re only in 1994, now you know one good reason why…

    2021-06-07
  116. 030. My Performance Review (and an Expense Report)
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Summertime at Microsoft was also performance review time. I was also busy trying to figure out what job to do next and was quite stressed. While this is a brief look at my own performance review,…

    2021-06-03
  117. 029. Telling the Untold Story
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    A more interesting aspect of being in a staff role is how your perspective changes from day-to-day execution to strategic milestones. From this perspective, one doesn’t see the daily progress as much…

    2021-05-30
  118. 028. Pivotal Offsite
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    There was no shortage of energy around the internet. It was clear that a bunch of stuff would happen. Turning that energy into something resembling a strategy was an open question. For all the…

    2021-05-25
  119. 027. Internet Evangelist
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    I’m about to get my first lesson in disruption. It wasn’t called that yet, the first HBR article is a year a way and the book and phrase “innovator’s dilemma” more than three years away. Trapped in…

    2021-05-23
  120. 026. Blue Suede Pumas
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Microsoft was now big enough in early 1994 that it was easy to know the really old-timers (10 years was really old, 5 years was the period of doubling year over year), but anyone hired after you…

    2021-05-16
  121. 025. Trapped
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Imagine having all the confidence of an early twenty-something at an incredibly successful technology company leading the industry and lucky enough to be in a job giving you access to the leaders…

    2021-05-12
  122. 024. Discovering “Cornell is WIRED!” [Ch. IV]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to Chapter IV. The next series of sections detail one of the most interesting, exciting, and to many, troubling eras in the history of Microsoft. While Microsoft was busy developing Chicago…

    2021-05-09
  123. 023. ThinkWeeks
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    People always seem to want to know the habits or techniques used by CEOs for managing the company. I’m not sure if that helps or not, but at the very least it can be interesting. Before I became…

    2021-05-02
  124. 022. Injecting New Ideas and IQ: The Information Superhighway
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    In 1993, it would have been difficult to overstate the hype surrounding the “Information Superhighway”. Whatever definition or capabilities it might have, it consumed the imaginations of everyone…

    2021-04-27
  125. Apple Event: Desktop-Tablet Convergence, Cord-Cutting, "Find Anything," & More
    16 Minutes News by a16z

    In this week’s episode of 16 Minutes, our show where we cover tech trends in the news — and also cover themes from company developer and innovation events! — we focus on the latest coming out of…

    2021-04-25
  126. 021. Expanding Breadth versus Coherency: The EMS Project
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Back to 020. Innovation versus Shipping: The Cairo Project Through Microsoft Office, even the first versions, Microsoft sold a primitive form of email that worked for small groups of people in the…

    2021-04-23
  127. 020. Innovation versus Shipping: The Cairo Project
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Back to 019. BillG the Manager As technical assistant I spent most of my time navigating our operating system strategy and progress during late-1992 to mid-1994. There were three main OS development…

    2021-04-19
  128. 019. BillG the Manager
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    The breadth of the Microsoft product line and the rapid turnover of core technologies all but precluded BillG from micro-managing the company in spite of the perceptions and lore around that topic.…

    2021-04-15
  129. 018. Microsoft’s Two Bountiful Gardens
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Back to 017. Eyes On Competition, Architecture, and Left Field One of the first things I did as Technical Assistant was to set up time with each of the leaders of the Office of the President and key…

    2021-04-11
  130. 017. Eyes On Competition, Architecture, and Whitespace
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Back to 016. Filling the Void Left By IBM I’m still just finding my footing in the role of technical assistant. My first weeks happen to be a flurry of meetings with various product groups. I quickly…

    2021-04-05
  131. 016. Filling the Void Left by IBM
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    One of the first things I did as Technical Assistant (TA) in early 1993 was attend something called the “Management Conference” which was a new offsite created for emerging people in the company.…

    2021-03-29
  132. 015. Every Group Is Screwed Up
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Back to 014. Chapter III. Executing on the Expansive Vision of Bill Gates Even to this day I get queasy when I think about being late to this first meeting. If you know me it makes no sense at all. I…

    2021-03-23
  133. 014. Executing on the Expansive Vision of Bill Gates [Ch. III]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    At the start of Chapter III towards the end of 1992, I thought I was about to start on the next release of Visual C++. Instead, a surprise email has me discussing a new job working for BillG as his…

    2021-03-20
  134. 013. End of the Beginning
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    It is 1992 and we’re finishing up the release of what would become Visual C++. Powering through the battles of naming a product, engaging on reviews, and figuring out what comes next keeps us all…

    2021-03-14
  135. 012. I Shipped, Therefore I Am
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Attending and presenting at the first Win32 Windows Professional Developer Conference (PDC) and meeting (and being intimidated by) Dave Cutler along the way. Shipping my first product while…

    2021-03-12
  136. 011. A Strategy for the '90s: Windows
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Back to 010. Our BillG Review Finally, in the Spring 1991 we had clarity on our platform mess, but complexity in how to move forward. I get promoted to a lead software design engineer. I worry about…

    2021-03-07
  137. 010. Our BillG Review
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Back to 009. Password is NeXTStep The story of my first BillG review, except I’m too junior to attend. Soon I will find myself doing nothing but BillG reviews for almost two years. For now, I had to…

    2021-02-28
  138. 009. Password is 'NeXTStep'
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Back to 008. Competing with Steve Jobs (the First Time) [Chapter II] It is only fitting that a post about an accomplishment by Steve Jobs would come on the eve of his birthday. NeXT, founded and led…

    2021-02-24
  139. 008. Competing With Steve Jobs (the First Time) [Ch. II]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome to Chapter II. In short order I learn that Microsoft is way behind in the products I work on. BillG is really concerned about Steve Jobs NeXT computer. I move offices and find out I was part…

    2021-02-22
  140. 007. Windows 3.0 Buzz
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    A continued thank you to subscribers for the comments and discussion we’re having. It is an amazing part of writing a book this way that we can share in additional memories and reflect on experiences…

    2021-02-19
  141. 006. Zero Defects
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Go back to 005. Keeping Busy with Cross-Platform OOP Thank you for reading along and the great comments! This post tells the story of my first memo, Zero Defects, and the impact it had on me and all…

    2021-02-17
  142. 005. Keeping Busy with Cross-Platform OOP
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Back to 004. Everything is Buggy I finally have a project to work on. Unfortunately it feels a bit like make-work and I have no idea how it fits into the big picture of Microsoft. Actually, I’m not…

    2021-02-15
  143. 004. Everything Is Buggy
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Go back to 003. Klunder College Subscribers, thank you so much for the kind words and most of all participation in the discussions. My heart warms each time someone shares their own story or memories…

    2021-02-11
  144. 003. Klunder College
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Go back to 002. SteveSi ADC, Apps Developer College, was more a curriculum than a college, run by Dan Newell (DanN) and Doug Klunder (DougK). It was called Klunder College because Doug created it.…

    2021-02-06
  145. 002. SteveSi
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    If you missed the first post, start with 001. Becoming a Microsoftie (Chapter I). A Prologue has been added offering just a bit about my own history with computing. There is also a Roadmap/Table of…

    2021-02-04
  146. Elon Musk + Vlad Tenev on The Good Time Show
    a16z Live

    Guests Elon Musk and Vlad Tenev (of Robinhood) join hosts of The Good Time Show on Clubhouse Sriram Krishnan & Aarthi Ramamurthy, Marc Andreessen, Steven Sinofsky, Garry Tan, and others.

    2021-02-01
  147. 001. Becoming a Microsoftie [Ch. I]
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    Welcome. This is the first serialized section (yay!) The book is broken into 15 chapters and an epilogue. Each chapter has a number of sections, which are the posts you’ll receive in email.…

    2021-02-01
  148. Prologue. Becoming a Hacker
    Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky (Audio Edition)

    In 1982, Time magazine named the personal computer Machine of the Year, marking the first time a non-human was awarded Man of the Year. It was a fascinating read, but like many nerdy kids across the…

    2021-01-28
  149. Apple Silicon: A Long Game, Changing the Game
    16 Minutes News by a16z

    We cover the latest coming out of Apple’s event last week, where they announced the first new lineups of devices based on Apple Silicon M1 chips, which officially came out today. And since there’s…

    2020-11-18
  150. CES 2020 - Screens, 8K, 5G, Cars, Micromobility, Smart Home
    16 Minutes News by a16z

    This episode of our news show teases apart what was just a concept, what's near from the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2020). Board partner Steven Sinofsky (in conversation with Sonal…

    2020-01-18
  151. a16z Podcast: What to Know about FedRAMP
    The a16z Show

    with @ldhawke and @stevesi The government wants to get onto the cloud! But how do they assess the levels of risk in adopting specific cloud products, and which "cloud service providers" (aka "CSPs")…

    2019-08-28
  152. a16z Podcast: How Many Taps in the Apple (Plus) Tree?
    The a16z Show

    with Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) and Steven Sinofsky (@stevesi) What does Apple's recent event — in which a range of new services was announced, from Apple News Plus to Apple TV Plus to the Apple…

    2019-03-30
  153. a16z Podcast: Pulse Check on Consumer Tech Trends 2019, CES and Beyond
    The a16z Show

    with Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) and Steven Sinofsky (@stevesi) Every year, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) puts the latest and greatest developments in consumer technology on display in…

    2019-01-17
  154. a16z Podcast: Tesla and the Nature of Disruption
    The a16z Show

    with Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans) and Steven Sinofsky (@SteveSi) In another of our hallway conversation episodes, Benedict Evans and Steven Sinofsky talk all about Tesla — and more broadly, the…

    2018-09-17
  155. a16z Podcast: What's at the Core of the Latest Apple Announcement?
    The a16z Show

    with Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans) and Steven Sinofksy (@StevenSi) In this hallway-style conversation episode of the a16z Podcast, Benedict Evans and a16z board partner Steven Sinofsky discuss…

    2018-09-14
  156. a16z Podcast: What to Know about GDPR
    The a16z Show

    with Lisa Hawke (@ldhawke) and Steven Sinofsky (@stevesi) Given concern around data breaches, the EU Parliament finally passed GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) after four years of…

    2018-04-12
  157. a16z Podcast: Beyond CES: Connected Home Devices, Voice, and More
    The a16z Show

    In this hallway conversation of the a16z Podcast, Benedict Evans and Steven Sinofsky discuss CES 2018 and share insight on what they took from this year's show. How much can you discern each…

    2018-01-22
  158. a16z Podcast: The $200 PC in the Enterprise
    The a16z Show

    What capabilities do enterprise companies really want from their computers? Twenty years ago, those capabilities might've been bundled into a mainframe. Ten years ago, it might've been the PC. Today,…

    2017-12-19
  159. a16z Podcast: Revenge of the Algorithms (Over Data)... Go! No?
    The a16z Show

    with Frank Chen, Steven Sinofsky, and Sonal Chokshi There are many reasons why we’re in an “A.I. spring” after multiple “A.I. winters” — but how then do we tease apart what’s real vs. what’s hype…

    2017-10-23
  160. The FBI vs. Apple and Rich vs. Paul
    CatalystMentioned

    The debate over security, privacy, and technology: this week’s episode starts with a battle between two titans, Apple vs. the FBI and/or Paul vs. Rich. Weighing in on the ongoing phone encryption…

    2016-03-01

Showing the 150 most recent of 163 appearances. Open Attunex for the rest.