Following Microsoft's official statement that Brian Valentine will be reassigned to an undisclosed position inside the Redmond company concomitantly with windows Vista shipment in January 2006, the Senior Vice President of Windows Core Operating System Division has announced his resignation. Nick White, a Microsoft Product Manager has posted an entry on the Windows Vista Team Blog describing Valentine's move as a new "adventure".

Valentine's transition to Amazon is unlikely to impact the development of Windows Vista, as the operating system has reached the Release Candidate 1 stage. His position and responsibilities within the company will be transitioned onto Jim Allchin, co-president of the Platforms & Services Division.

Valentine has been with Microsoft since 1987, starting as Engineering Manager in the LAN Manager Group. "In his 19 great years at Microsoft, Brian played a central leadership role and his contribution to the success of many Microsoft products is significant and indelible. His confidence in Windows Vista at its current RC1 milestone helped shape his decision. Windows Vista, of course, is still on track for completion to achieve business availability in November 2006 and broad consumer availability in early 2007. We wish Brian the best of luck in his new endeavor and he will definitely be missed," concluded White.