Microsoft engineering groups
Microsoft engineering groups are the operating divisions of Microsoft. Starting in April 2002, Microsoft organised itself into seven groups, each an independent financial entity. In September 2005, Microsoft announced a reorganization of its then seven groups into three. In July 2013, Microsoft announced another reorganization into five engineering groups and six corporate affairs groups. A year later, in June 2015, Microsoft reformed into three engineering groups. In September 2016, a new group was created to focus on artificial intelligence and research. On March 29, 2018, a new structure merged all of these into three.
As of 2023, there are four groups:
- Cloud and Artificial Intelligence
- Experiences and Devices
- Gaming
- Technologies and Research
Experiences + Devices
Windows + Devices
is an operating system by Microsoft. Windows is available in different families, catering to different kinds of devices.- Windows NT – Windows 11 is the latest OS in this family. It is designed for use in personal computers, 2-in-1 PCs and tablets. As of 2020, Microsoft Windows retained around 75% market share in personal computers and 2-in-1 PCs combined. However, in tablets the market share of Windows is just around 10%.
- Windows IoT – designed specifically for use in IoT scenarios such as on devices where the OS may not directly be visible to the end user; in particular, home appliances, home automation, auto-motives, industry devices etc.
- Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Phone and Windows Mobile – designed for smartphones and small tablets. The last OS in this group viz. Windows 10 Mobile includes all basic consumer features, including Continuum capability. These all have been discontinued.
- Windows 9x – comprises Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME.
- Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0 and Windows 3.0 – versions of Windows that were launched from MS-DOS and were not stand-alone operating systems.
- Xbox One system software – includes all versions of Windows running on Xbox game consoles.
- Microsoft Surface – a family of Windows-based personal computing devices, first launched in 2012. It includes the Surface and Surface Pro series of 2-in-1 tablet computers, the Surface Book laptop, the Surface Studio all-in-one PC, and the Surface Hub interactive whiteboard.
- Microsoft HoloLens – a set of augmented reality smartglasses, launched in 2016.
- Xbox – a home gaming console. Many video games for the platform have been developed by the company's Xbox Game Studios subsidiary, in addition to third-party video game publishers such as Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. The first generation launched in 2001 and was succeeded by the Xbox 360 in 2005, the Xbox One in 2013, and Xbox Series X and Series S in 2020.
- Microsoft also produces and sells mice, keyboards, webcams, headsets, game controllers and wireless display adapters. The production of these accessories is outsourced in most cases.
Microsoft 365 and Office
Skype
Skype was an application that specializes in providing video chat and voice call services. Users can exchange text and video messages, files and images, and create conference calls. Other applications developed alongside Skype are Skype Translator, Skype Qik and GroupMe. Originally launched in 2003, it was bought by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion, and was retired on May 5, 2025.Web Experiences and Advertising
Bing is a web search engine from Microsoft., Bing is the third largest search engine globally, with a query volume of 4.58%, behind Google and Baidu. A complete list of search offerings from Bing can be found here. Under Bing, below non-search offerings are also listed:- Bing Ads – an advertising service that provides pay per click advertising on various search engines.
- Bing Translator – a statistical machine translation platform and web service.
- Bing Webmaster Tools – an online toolbox that allows webmasters to add their websites to the Bing index crawler.
- Cortana – an intelligent personal assistant.
- Microsoft Pulse – an audience response system, it has been used by several major news organisations like CNN, Fox and MSNBC.
Cloud + AI
This group focuses on building the core foundations. It was originally the Cloud and Enterprise group until March 2018, when it was expanded with the Windows core platform team merged into it. Led by Scott Guthrie.Azure
is the company's cloud computing platform that hosts virtual machines, websites and more. It provides both platform as a service and infrastructure as a service services and supports many different programming languages, tools and frameworks, including both Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems. It was launched in 2010. Within the Azure team- Business AI
- Universal Store and Commerce
- AI Perception and Mixed Reality
- AI Cognitive Services and Platform
Visual Studio
Dynamics
is a line of enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management software applications. Microsoft Dynamics was previously a separate engineering unit until it got reorganised into the Cloud & Enterprise Group in June 2015.Servers
Microsoft Servers is a brand that encompasses Microsoft's server products. This includes the Windows Server editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system itself, as well as products targeted at the wider business market. Microsoft's server products are further categorized into four groups namely, Operating systems, Productivity, Security and Microsoft System Center. A complete listing of product offerings can be found here.In July 2016, Microsoft moved the Windows Server team and its related products to the Windows and Devices Group, further justifying one Windows core across all platforms.