The team has been in flux since March, when Steven Sinofsky, then senior vice president of Office, took on a new role overseeing future versions of the Windows operating system. The move was widely viewed as a sign of deep-seated organizational problems within the Windows unit, which has seen repeated delays of the upcoming Vista operating system.

The consumer version of Vista has been pushed back to January, and some analysts expect further delays to February or March.

Microsoft said Wednesday it will break Office development into two teams for productivity applications and the business platform. The Office Productivity Applications group will be led by Antoine Leblond, who joined the company as a software-design engineer in 1989. Originally from Quebec City, Canada, Leblond has most recently overseen the planning and design of future versions of Office. In 2000, he was named a Distinguished Engineer, a rarefied title at the company honoring technical achievements.

Kurt DelBene will oversee the Office Business Platform group, which will develop programs targeted at sharing and collaboration. He has worked at Microsoft since 1992 and was most recently responsible for Office's document, Web page authoring and collaboration products.

Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division, announced the leadership shuffle internally. The company would not make any executives available to discuss the changes.

One analyst following Office, Rob Helm at Directions on Microsoft, said the moves didn't amount to a major change because Leblond and DelBene are veterans in the group. But it will be important that the two are in agreement on the overall strategy of the business, he said.

"The question is, who's going to knock heads together when they disagree?" Helm said. "It used to be Steven Sinofsky."

Kim Peterson: 206-464-2360 or kpeterson@seattletimes.com

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