Another one of Microsoft's execs, this time one of the brightest, is heading for the hills. Ben Slivka is moving over to the post of director of IT at Amazon, where his talents may be more appreciated. Slivka was one of The Register's favourite Microsofties. It was he who came up with the quote "grow the polluted Java," but he also produced what ought to have been - but in the end didn't turn out to be - a key Microsoft document roadmapping its entry to the Internet. Slivka's The Web is the next platform was thrown up in the DoJ's subpoenaed trial documents, and is contemporaneous with Bill Gates' more famous (and fairly screwy) Internet Tidal Wave. Slivka's paper includes an unexpected near-invention of the network computer, unpalatable (from the point of view of the Microsoft high command) support for a version of browser-based remote computing, and a lot of abuse about the screwed-up nature of Microsoft's 1995 Internet strategy. Microsoft canned a lot of the development he was complaining about when it executed its handbrake Internet turn, but it's not clear that Slivka got the credit for being right. His final job at MS was as a general manager of the Consumer and Commerce group, and his departure may be related to the imminent arrival of ex-SGI chief Rick Belluzzo. This is expected to be announced by Microsoft today. ®