Microsoft Expedia Gives Away $25,000 Worth of Travel

REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 1, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a $25,000 incentive to download Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0 and to subscribe to the new Microsoft Expedia
™
Active Channel
™
content, which is featured as a preconfigured channel shipping with Internet Explorer 4.0. From Oct. 25 through Oct. 31, 1997, anyone who downloads Internet Explorer 4.0 http://www.microsoft.com/ , which was unveiled Sept. 30, can register through an Internet Explorer 4.0 channel to win a $25,000 shopping spree for travel purchases on Expedia (http://expedia.com/) .

The sweepstakes will provide one lucky winner with $25,000 worth of travel, including $12,500 for airline tickets and $12,500 for hotel rooms and rental cars booked through Expedia. At current market value, the winner could afford to fly round-trip from New York to Europe five times to experience diverse cultures, complete with a luxury rental car and five-star hotel accommodations.

The Expedia $25,000 shopping spree winner will be announced Nov. 12, 1997. The winner’s travel credit will be valid through Nov. 1, 1998. For complete contest rules, see http://www.microsoft.com/ or send name, address and phone number to: MS-IE4 Free Play Request, P.O. Box 336, Haverford, PA 19041.

Internet Explorer 4.0 provides easy access to specific content areas including a travel channel featuring Microsoft Expedia. Taking advantage of Internet Explorer 4.0 technology, the Expedia Active Channel content enables customers to schedule automatic downloading of valuable travel information directly to their desktops. Special new features include the ability to click two cities on a world map and quickly obtain current low-fare pricing for airline routes between them.

Microsoft Expedia, launched in October 1996, is already one of the Web’s most successful electronic-commerce sites. Expedia regularly tops $2 million in weekly travel sales and is on track to become a $100 million travel service by the end of 1997.

Microsoft Expedia is a free online travel-planning service available on the Web at (http://expedia.com/) and on MSN
™
, The Microsoft Network (connect-time charges may apply). Using the same comprehensive reservations system used by professional travel agents, and offering extensive editorial content covering more than 330 destinations around the world, Expedia helps customers research, purchase and reserve airline tickets, hotel rooms and rental cars. Airline tickets can be purchased online with credit cards and are delivered by first-class or Express Mail. Expedia also supports electronic ticketing, or “ticketless travel.” After receiving their tickets, customers who require on-the-road assistance can call the toll-free Expedia customer support number 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To access Microsoft Expedia, users need access to the Web and Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, 4.0 or an Internet browser that supports HTML 3.0, HTML Tables, HTML Frames and JavaScript.

Microsoft Expedia online travel planning service (http://expedia.com/) is a member of the Microsoft Expedia family of travel-related products and services. These include the Microsoft Expedia Streets 98, Streets Deluxe 98 and Trip Planner 98 CD-ROMs available in stores and at http://www.microsoft.com/expedia/ ; and the Mungo Park
™
online travel magazine, dedicated to the spirit of adventure in travel (http://www.mungopark.com/) .

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Active Channel content reinforces the Internet Explorer 4.0 goal to deliver “the Web the way you want it,” with premier content optimized for easy, fast and personalized delivery. Functionality, including Dynamic HTML, allows providers of Active Channel content to create highly interactive Web pages whose colors, images, text styles, data and even 2-D positioning can change quickly based on user interaction. Active Channel technology will also support channel definition format (CDF)-based webcasting, which enables customers to easily define and schedule automatic downloading of their favorite content. CDF-based webcasting offers customers a more convenient and personalized Web browsing experience.

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, Expedia, Active Channel, MSN and Mungo Park are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

The Microsoft Network is operated by Microsoft Corp. on behalf of Microsoft Network LLC.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.

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