Geek to chic - Microsoft sexes up IT

Microsoft's IT poster girl Erin McNaught at a GPS device launch. Photo / Getty Images

Microsoft has hired a former Miss Australia to sex up the computer industry's image.

The Courier-Mail reported that Erin McNaught, who dropped out of her science degree at Queensland Institute of Technology to pursue a modelling career, has been picked as poster girl for a campaign encourage young people into the industry.

Her new role was announced at a Gold Coast technical education conference run by Microsoft and the Australian Information Industry Association.

The event hoped to turn around the 38 per cent slump in university enrolments in IT courses and to show teenagers that the industry had "gone from geek to chic".

McNaught is a host on Australia's Channel 10's games and gadget show Cyber Shack, where she reviews computer games.

- NZ HERALD STAFF