There were numerous reports about a major reorganization about to take place within Microsoft last month and now it’s all official. CEO Steve Ballmer has announced a company-wide restructuring, resulting in two divisions — one dedicated to devices, and one dedicated to services.

Among some of the major changes, Julie Larson-Green will now be head of hardware development for all the devices that Microsoft builds. Terry Myerson, previously the head of the Windows Phone team, will be the lead of the new operating systems engineering group that’s in charge of desktop, mobile and video game console operating systems. Skype division president Tony Bates also has a new role, and is now in charge of evangelism and developer outreach.

There are a number of other moves and shuffling that went down, all detailed in Steve Ballmer’s lengthy company-wide memo. But the main goal is to create a leaner, meaner Microsoft that can work together and unify the company’s different products and services. “One strategy, united together, with great communication, decisiveness and positive energy is the only way to fly,” Ballmer said in the company email. “Let’s go.”

With a less than stellar reception to Windows 8, underwhelming performance by its Surface tablets and the PR debacle that was the Xbox One, these guys have a lot of work to do. They better get going.

[via Microsoft, image via david__jones]