Microsoft brings in outside marketing expert for Longhorn

The Financial Times reports today that Microsoft has hired Michael Sievert, a marketing expert who was most recently chief marketing officer of AT&T Wireless, to be in charge of bringing Longhorn to market.

Longhorn is the next generation of the Windows operating system, much delayed and now widely expected to be delivered in 2006.

The FT says that Sievert (biography), whose past employers also include Procter & Gamble and IBM, was named corporate vice president for Windows product management, responsible for the marketing, product management and product planning of Windows for PCs and other devices.

The FT quotes a spokeperson for Microsoft as saying that the new appointment did not reflect any further delays or changes in the Longhorn project, but instead was the result of personal considerations.

Tom Button, the long-time Microsoft executive who had been product manager for Longhorn, has been on a leave of absence for family medical reasons and “is expected to return to Microsoft in a different capacity,” the FT quoted the Microsoft spokesperson as saying.

Financial Times | Microsoft taps outsider to lead Windows project (paid subscription required)

See also – Microsoft press release today announcing Sievert’s appointment.