Redmond (WA) - In a reorganization of executive seating and titles that is not unprecedented - and may even be in keeping with tradition - Microsoft Corp. today announced a reorganization of its resources, creating three new fundamental divisions, all of which are to be led by executives with the level of President.

The surprise this afternoon is that Kevin Johnson, formerly Group Vice President for Worldwide Sales, will be given command of the new Platform Products and Services Division, which will have oversight of the client and server editions of Windows, all "tools" (which apparently now include applications such as Office, as well as developer tools such as Visual Studio), as well as MSN. The current Group Vice President, Jim Allchin, will also be promoted to the title of Co-president of the new platforms division. But he'll serve only until the release of Windows Vista in late 2006, and will be training Johnson, his successor, in the meantime.

The replacement, even if gradual, of the technically skilled Allchin with the marketing wizard Johnson, may be perceived as a shift in priorities and culture at Microsoft.

For the newly created Business Division, Jeff Raikes, previously Group Vice President for Information Worker Business, has been named President. A 24-year veteran of Microsoft, Raikes was previously in charge of Microsoft Office. Doug Burgum, Senior Vice President of what has delightfully been called the "Business Solutions Business Group," will now report to Raikes, although with one less "Business" to worry about. Also, heading up the Entertainment and Devices Division will be Robbie Bach, who will have oversight over Xbox and also, it appears, handheld platforms such as Windows CE. Bach has been the highly visible senior vice president of what was called the Home and Entertainment Division, and his promotion should come as welcome news for Xbox aficionados.

Less well understood this afternoon is the announcement of the repositioning of Eric Rudder, previously senior vice president for servers and tools (which at one time meant "developer and administrator applications"), to a new position, thus far unnamed, that reports directly to Bill Gates, in his role as Chief Software Architect. Also, the role of Ray Ozzie, the company's chief technical officer, is reportedly being expanded, though without a change of title.

Stay tuned to Tom's Hardware Guide for a complete analysis of today's reorganization.