Video: Technology

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If only every Microsoft product had fans as pumped up as the Halo 4 ones earlier this week. The action-shooter Xbox game racked up record sales. But it doesn't have a lot of company at Microsoft. CEO Steve Ballmer for example sayings its much-hyped Surface tablet has a modest start- and soon after those comments the executive spearheading that device and the Windows 8 software- Steve Sinofsky- left the company. Avi Greengart, Research Director, Current Analysis: SOUNDBITE: AVI GREENGART, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, CURRENT ANALYSIS (ENGLISH) SAYING: "Well, Microsoft has a famously dysfunctional or at least combative internal culture where the internal division heads are fighting against each other and in many cases innovations have been killed to protect the cash cow that is windows and office. The key, is to get past its history of internal political battles and gets its eyes on the prize- innovating and creating hit products: SOUNDBITE: AVI GREENGART, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, CURRENT ANALYSIS (ENGLISH) SAYING: " I don't know if its a cultural change but we are certainly seeing Microsoft doing a much better job today than they ever have in the past of getting their assets working together across the company. So you have Xbox music that uses the Xbox brand that works across multiple products. you have the same user interface on their phone on their tablet and on their desktop PC." The company also needs to come to terms with its history- and make some tough decisions: Reuters BreakingViews Rob Cyran: SOUNDBITE: ROB CYRAN, COLUMNIST, REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS (ENGLISH) SAYING: "It is very difficult to take a giant company and have all this big legacy of this software and just rip it out and start again but that's essentially what they would need to do. I don't really see them doing that because it would be a huge risk for Microsoft to just junk everything and start again. " That task now falls to the executives stepping into Sanofsky's shoes- Tami Reller who will remain Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer, as well as Julie Larson-Green who will head the Windows hardware and software division.