Redmond, Washington — Microsoft Corp., established that another Windows veteran, “Mike Nash,” corporate vice president, who steered Microsoft’s security activities before committing the past several years in the product management and strategy department in the Windows unit, is leaving the company effective before the end of February. He is leaving to join the Kindle group at Amazon.com.
Nash, who has been at Microsoft for 19 years. He has left a striking influence in many places at Microsoft, shepherding various versions of Windows out into the marketplace, and was a driving force behind Microsoft’s increased focus on security in its products.
He was the first product manager on the Windows NT marketing team, where he has been looking after security, Internet Explorer, emerging markets and ecosystem management. He has been at Microsoft since 1991 and has worked on Microsoft’s security initiatives and Windows marketing.
The company released a statement about Nash’s departure saying:
Microsoft confirmed that Nash will leave the company in “a couple weeks.” It did not specify where he is heading. “In his 19 years, Mike made an impact in a number of key positions at the company. We appreciate his service and wish him well,” Microsoft said in a statement.
He joins Bill Veghte, another Microsoft veteran who also recently left the Windows team shortly after the launch of Windows 7.
In mid-January, Microsoft announced that Veghte, who also had been at the company for 19 years, most recently as senior vice president of Windows, would leave by the end of January.
Veghte helped launch Windows 7 with his peer Steven Sinofsky, who was promoted in July to a new position of president of the Windows division.
Nash’s Windows roots stems deep, according to his bio on Microsoft’s Web site, Nash was the first product manager on the original Windows NT marketing team. Along the way, he also played a role in making sure that Windows 7 shipped on time.
During his prolonged attachment with the company, he also supervised development of Microsoft.com and headed the launch of Windows 2000, before shifting to head the security team.
One present-day expert, who worked with Nash at Microsoft, praised his management style.
“I always found him to be a real straight shooter,” Michael Cherry, research vice president for operating systems at analysis firm Directions on Microsoft said in a statement.
“He always gave you an answer, although it might not be the answer you wanted,” he added.
Cherry added that Nash was also responsible for the launch of NT’s follow on, Windows 2000, which a year later led to Windows XP.
“Windows 2000 was really a turning point for NT because it is when it really started to become the operating system that it is today” in products like Windows 7, he added.