Microsoft Veteran Mike Nash Leaving Company

"We can confirm that Mike Nash is leaving Microsoft in a couple weeks. In his 19 years, Mike made an impact in number of key roles at the company. We appreciate his service and wish him well," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement.

According to Microsoft blogger Mary Jo Foley, who broke the news, Nash is joining the Kindle team at Amazon in an unspecified role.

During his time at Microsoft, Nash was responsible for components of the Windows Platform, including business strategy, ecosystem engagement, consumer security, Internet Explorer, and emerging markets. In this position, Nash played a key role in Microsoft's efforts to control the fallout from Windows Vista.

In February 2008, however, Nash's frustrations with Vista were made public during the discovery phase of class action lawsuit over Microsoft's Vista Capable campaign, when lawyers for the plaintiffs used an e-mail from Nash to show that Microsoft executives were aware of Vista's hefty hardware requirements.

"I PERSONALLY got burnt ... Are we seeing this from a lot of customers? ... I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine," Nash wrote in the email. Later, Nash took on the Herculean task of trying to convince businesses to migrate to the OS despite the preponderance of negative opinions.

With Windows 7, though, Nash's task was much easier. In interviews with Channelweb.com last year, Nash focused on Microsoft's efforts to work closely with application and device vendors to enable better compatibility in Windows 7, and how Windows 7 represents a more streamlined architectural approach than Vista.

If the report of Nash joining Amazon is accurate, he'll be involved with a product that's loved by the "millions" of customers who've purchased it, which is a description that contrasts dramatically with those that have been applied to Vista.