InformationWeek

Microsoft Going Online

Network service will feature easy access from Windows 95; HTML add-on for Word planned

Microsoft corp. has erased any doubts about its intention to be a dominant player in online information and commerce. The software giant formally unveiled the Microsoft Network online service on Nov. 14, the opening day of the Comdex show in Las Vegas. Microsoft will include easy access to the service in the Windows 95 operating system, which is due in the first half of 1995.

Microsoft also announced a potentially huge add-on product for Internet access. Internet Assistant for Word, available by year's-end at no charge to Word 6.0 users, automatically generates hypertext markup language (HTML) code for each Word document. This enables those documents to be posted and shared on the Internet's World Wide Web (WWW) network with hypertext links built in. ( Interleaf recently announced a similar product .)

Word's installed base of 19 million users should boost the WWW's growth for document exchange within a company as well as the posting of data for customers, suppliers, or business partners.

Microsoft Network, formerly called Marvel, confirmed competitors' worst fears about the product's tight integration with Windows 95. The service will appear on Windows 95 as a standard on-screen icon with access and dial-up provided by double-clicking a mouse. Local dial-up access will be available in 35 countries through deals with telecom giants AT&T, Sprint, BT, and Canada's Unitel.

Nice And Easy
With Microsoft Network, "You forget you're using an online service," says Windows 95 tester Skip McDowell, information resources enginee r at Georgia Power Co. in Atlanta. "It's like being inside a Windows application."

Microsoft Network's content is sparse, but the company is said to be negotiating with information providers such as Time Warner, Starwave, and TicketMaster. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says the basic service will be cheaper than current online services, which average $8 to $9 a month, but he didn't divulge specific pricing.

Microsoft plans to provide premium services to its users, much like a cable network. Says Gates: "We won't measure ourselves by the amount of content; we want to focus on doing unique things."

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