(CNN) -- The new Egyptian Cabinet sworn in Thursday has been seen as a move to appease critics who say the government has not been serious enough about the political and economic reforms demanded by protesters.
But observers say they don't believe the changes are significant. At least one analyst said the new Cabinet makeup reflects a "more harmonious caretaker government" that Prime Minister Essam Sharaf can work with now until the planned parliamentary elections in November.
Sharaf has been leading a caretaker government under the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that took power in February when Hosni Mubarak resigned as president in the face of a popular revolt.
Sharaf faced massive pressure from protesters occupying Cairo's Tahrir Square who said the present Cabinet was too close to the old leadership guard.
Sharaf said this month that he would reshuffle the Cabinet, with replacements announced for 14 of 27 posts.
The revamped slate of ministers includes new faces in several key posts, including the foreign and finance ministries. A reformer, Hazem Beblawi, was named finance minister and deputy prime minister as part of the shake-up.
But two key portfolios -- interior and justice -- did not change hands. Experts said the status quo in those ministries may spark further protests despite the Interior Ministry's firings of more than 600 top police officials last week.
Hisham Kassem, a prominent Egyptian journalist and analyst, said there's no indication the changes in the Cabinet reflect pressure from dissatisfied demonstrators in Tahrir Square.
He called the group there a "ragtag bunch" and not representative of the masses who took to the streets in January to demand Mubarak's removal.
Major changes such as in the interior and justice ministries weren't made, he said, adding that there was no clamor to oust most of the Cabinet members who were removed.
Kassem said the prime minister came to an understanding with the military rulers to get his own team.
"There was discord in the Cabinet, and the prime minister wanted to change some of his ministers," Kassem said. "Right now, it seems that Essam Sharaf has a Cabinet he can work with."
He singled out the choice of Beblawi. "This is definitely a man who knows his work. He is pro-open market; he would try to improve the atmosphere for investments."
Heba Morayef, the Human Rights Watch's Egypt researcher, said that the shake-up is "not a very big change" and that "all of this doesn't really mean very much while the military is in control."
Some ministers who were part of the former regime's Cabinet were removed, a development that appears to reflect a nod to the people in Tahrir Square, she said.
She said she believes that "the decisions on justice and interior are strictly under the control of the military and that the military itself is quite change resistant."
While parliament elections are scheduled for November, there's no date set for a presidential vote.
"Ultimately there won't be a real transition in decision-making until the military hands over power to a civilian president and a new constitution is drafted," Morayef said.
Marina Ottaway, senior associate in the Middle East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said many in the new Cabinet are "rather old," an indication that authorities are having trouble finding people to serve in what is "by definition an interim Cabinet."
"People with real political ambitions for the future may be staying away," she said. "There are some indications some were approached and turned it down."
She added, "I think they tried to get rid of the people who were most controversial, seen as holdovers from the old regime. At the same time, they didn't touch the justices of interior and justice."
The military, she said, "sacrificed some people to the crowd" -- but not everybody.
CNN's Amir Ahmed contributed to this report.
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