J Allard, one of the chief designers of the original Xbox, has joined Amazon, but it's too soon to say if he'll be working on anything related to video games.

J Allard, a f ounding member of Xbox, Windows NT and Internet Information Server at Microsoft, has joined Amazon as the Vice President of the company's Devices and Services team.

Chief Technical Officer of the canceled Microsoft Courier project, and of the XBOX and Zune team J Allard is taking a leave of absence from Microsoft due to butting heads with CEO Steve Ballmer.

He developed the Xbox 360 console and launched the Xbox Live network. Outside of gaming, Allard also helped develop the Zune, which was meant to be Microsoft's answer to Apple's iPod.

Allard is best known in gaming circles for his 20 years at Microsoft, where he co-founded Xbox and helped launch the original console and the Xbox 360, as well as Xbox Live and Xbox Live Arcade.

J’s been working on the Zune in the States, but his first love is still the Xbox 360. Bodyguard, shmodyguard. Nobody can resist the combination of Ashcraft and McWhertor, two guys I still can ...

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