Former Apple exec hired for .Net project

Microsoft announced it has hired a top former Apple Computer executive and

business partner of Steve Jobs to head sales and marketing of its ambitious .Net

business venture. Dan'l Lewin was among a handful of Apple employees who left

the company in 1985 to help Jobs found NeXT. Lewin worked at Apple from 1981 to

1985, and directed the sales and marketing program that helped make Apple

computers a mainstay in schools. Most recently, he was president and CEO at

Aurigin Systems, which makes software to help companies manage intellectual

property.

The .Net program is designed to help Microsoft become a major supplier of

online-based application software that customers can access anytime, from

anywhere and on a broad range of devices.

Lewin will be responsible for finding computer-industry partners for .Net.

Lewin will work out of Microsoft's Silicon Valley office complex in Mountain

View. "I've had contacts with a lot of these people over last 20 years, and

that level of relationship is going to be very helpful," he said.