Steven Sinofsky's seemingly abrupt departure from Microsoft on Monday was apparently not so sudden inside the company. A new report claims that plans for Sinofsky to leave Microsoft, after heading up the development of Windows 8, was in the works for the last several weeks.

AllThingsD.com also reports, via unnamed sources, that in the end it came down to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. He apparently backed the decision made by CEO Steve Ballmer for Sinofsky to leave.

The story also repeats what has also been reported about Sinofsky in the past; namely that he was hard to work with. One unnamed source stated, "There was Steve’s way or no other way." Another source was quoted as saying, "He had no factions, except those who worked for him. He picked a lot of fights."

Over the years, those fights have caused a number of high level executives at Microsoft to leave the company. In those cases, Ballmer apparently took Sinofsky's side, but now it looks like Ballmer wanted other people who would try to work well together for the next generation of Windows development

Those people are in fact two women, Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller, who now have the task of not just taking over the Windows business, but also apparently trying to mend some fences inside and outside of Microsoft.

Source: AllThingsD.com | Image via Steven Sinofsky