REDMOND, Wash., April 8, 1996 —
— Microsoft Corp. today announced that Microsoft®
FrontPage
™1.1, the new version of its critically acclaimed tool for easily creating and managing Web sites, is available in beta form for immediate download at no charge. Microsoft also announced that the estimated retail price for FrontPage has been lowered from $695 to a special introductory estimated retail price of $149, and that the Microsoft FrontPage server extensions, previously priced at $200 each, are now free from Microsoft. Microsoft Office for Windows®
95 customers will be eligible for a $40 rebate. The FrontPage 1.1 beta and server extensions are available from the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/. Widespread retail availability of FrontPage 1.1 is expected by the end of May 1996.
“With FrontPage, Web publishing is not just for webmasters any more,”
said Chris Peters, vice president of Microsoft’s Web authoring product unit.
“The combination of FrontPage’s ease of use, rich features, aggressive pricing, and integration with Microsoft Office helps bring Web publishing to the broadest range of computer users.”
Web Publishing Made Easy
FrontPage 1.1 includes a number of technical breakthroughs that provide users with a fast and easy way to develop and maintain professional Web sites without programming. Designed for both individual users and collaborative work environments, the FrontPage client-server architecture supports authoring and Web-site management from a user’s desktop, across a corporate LAN, or over the Internet. FrontPage 1.1 is designed to look and work like Microsoft Office applications, allowing a vast number of users to leverage their existing knowledge. FrontPage 1.1 includes the following features:
-
New
Easier installation. FrontPage 1.1 offers an improved setup allowing users to be up and running fast. -
New
WYSIWYG table support. FrontPage 1.1 makes it easy to create WYSIWYG tables, giving users direct control over all table features. -
New
HTML Frames Support. FrontPage 1.1 provides a Frames Wizard offering existing frame templates or the ability to create a custom frame grid. -
New
Auto Recalculate Links. FrontPage 1.1 lets users automatically update all occurrences of a hyperlink throughout the Web when a file is moved or renamed. -
New
WYSIWYG image alignment. FrontPage 1.1 image alignment is fully WYSIWYG, so users can see how the image will actually appear. -
New
Integration with Microsoft Office. Microsoft FrontPage 1.1 has a consistent interface and shares features with Microsoft Office such as multiple level undo and spell checking. Users also can open documents from and save documents to FrontPage webs from within Microsoft Word 95 and Microsoft Excel 95. -
FrontPage Editor. A WYSIWYG editor that makes it easy to create and edit Web pages with no knowledge of HTML.
-
FrontPage Explorer. A visual Web site manager that allows users to graphically view and manage a complex Web site.
-
Personal Web Server. Server software that allows users to stage Web sites and host webs on their computer.
-
WebBot
™
components. Drop-in Web server functionality such as full-text searching, threaded discussion groups, and surveys, without requiring complex CGI scripting or any setup. -
Wizards and templates. Automated content creation tools that allow users to interactively build Web pages, providing them with preformatted templates to which content can simply be added.
-
Multiuser remote authoring. Ability to set permissions for multiple authors to enable collaborative Web creation and management.
-
Server extensions. Software (available for download from the Web at no charge) for popular Windows NT® operating system and UNIX®
Web server platforms that allows proper hosting of FrontPage-created Webs. Server extensions for Microsoft Internet Information Server are scheduled to be available on April 22, 1996.
“
Web Documents
”
Strategy
Allowing users to create and edit Web documents easily is a key aspect of Microsoft’s desktop applications strategy. Microsoft believes the same broad category of users for whom word processing and spreadsheet documents are the most common daily business communication formats today will author webs for corporate intranets or the Internet in the near future. FrontPage extends the notion of document creation to include a variety of document types such as HTML pages and Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint®
presentation graphics program files, all connected by hyperlinks.
Microsoft Office applications already offer a complete set of Internet Assistants that allow users to publish to the Web without complex HTML programming. The combination of Office applications and FrontPage provides a complete Web publishing solution for the broadest range of business users.
Microsoft FrontPage 1.1 has a consistent interface and shares features with Office such as multiple-level undo, spell checker, and the ability to change font sizes, styles and colors. FrontPage 1.1 also allows users to update Office documents in webs by automatically launching the appropriate Office application from inside FrontPage Explorer. In addition, from the Microsoft Web site, users can download a FrontPage Open and Save add-in, which enables them to open spreadsheets and documents from a FrontPage web, or save them from Microsoft Excel 95 and Microsoft Word 95 to a FrontPage web.
“Integration between FrontPage and Office is a smart strategy aimed squarely at intranets, where business users are expected to rapidly increase the sharing of information and collaboration online,”
said Stephen Auditore, president of Zona Research Inc.
“This announcement clearly strengthens Microsoft’s position as a key player in the Web and intranet content-creation market, and alters the competitive environment, emphasizing content creation as a horizontal activity on a par with word processing.”
Special Introductory Price of $149 Through March 31, 1997
FrontPage 1.1 will be available through March 31, 1997, for a special introductory price of $149 (estimated retail price). In addition, existing customers of Microsoft Office 95 or any of its standalone applications are eligible for a $40 rebate. Customers who have purchased FrontPage 1.0 are eligible for a free upgrade to FrontPage 1.1 once the final retail product is available, expected to be before the end of May 1996.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft, FrontPage, Windows, WebBot, Windows NT and PowerPoint are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Ltd.
