Microsoft Announces Peer Web Services for the Desktop

SAN FRANCISCO, March 12, 1996 — Microsoft Corp. today announced technologies that make it easy for users to create personal Web sites, share files over the Internet and intranets, and publish Web pages to any standard Web site. The peer Web service extends Microsoft® Windows® 95 and Windows NT®
Workstation operating systems with personal Web capabilities. This announcement, made at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC), also unveiled open APIs that software developers and Internet service providers can use to create custom Web publishing applications for their customers.

“The promise of the Internet is information power for everyone; these new products and technologies are a step forward in making that promise a reality,”
said Paul Maritz, group vice president of the platforms group at Microsoft.
“Most individuals on the Web can already access information. Now, we’re giving them unprecedented power to create and share information of their own.”

Microsoft’s peer Web services make it easy for everyone to create their own personal Web sites and to share information as easily as they might share files over a LAN. The peer Web services, based on the highly popular Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), offer the same ease of setup and configuration found in IIS and support the ActiveX
™Server Framework, including the Internet Server API (ISAPI) and all ISAPI extensions and applications. The peer Web services also offer user-level security to Windows NT Server or Novell® NetWare®
servers, and local security for a standalone Web sites.

The peer Web services will be integrated with Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation, providing an easy, effective way to publish information from the desktop while delivering excellent coexistence with the industrial strength and scalability of the Microsoft Internet Information Server integrated with Windows NT Server. IIS offers the performance, enhanced management and administration features required for small-business, workgroup and enterprise Web sites. With the addition of the peer Web services to Windows 95 and
Windows NT Workstation, Microsoft now has a Web offering for all Win32®
-based platforms, giving Web users a desktop choice to complement IIS on Windows NT Server.

As part of the announcement, Microsoft also introduced Web Posting APIs, an open, standards-based way for independent software developers and Internet service providers to build Web-page posting tools for their customers that will work with any standard HTTP Web server.

To demonstrate the ease and functionality of the Web Posting APIs, Microsoft introduced the WebPost Wizard. Based on the new APIs, the WebPost Wizard walks authors through the process of publishing to a Web server. It uses a simple graphical interface, eliminating the hassles of command-line processes used today. The WebPost Wizard will be available for both Windows 95 and Windows NT.

“As personal and business home pages become a status quo, it is essential for people to create their home pages easily and make them available for viewing on the Internet,”
said Bruce MacNaughton, director of Internet engineering for CompuServe Inc.
“We fully support the development of open tools such as the WebPost Wizard, which allows users to create their page using the authoring tool of their choice and instantly publish their page on the Internet by selecting a hosting service such as CompuServe® .”

Availability

The peer Web services will be demonstrated this week at the Professional Developers Conference. A beta version is scheduled to be available in the second quarter of 1996, and the final version is due by the end of the year.

The Web Posting APIs are included with the Microsoft ActiveX Internet Developers Kit, released to thousands of developers today at the Professional Developers Conference, and are also available from the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/. Distribution for the WebPost Wizard has not yet been determined and will be published on the Microsoft Web site in the near future.

The peer Web services, Web Posting APIs and WebPost Wizard are the latest deliverables as part of Microsoft’s ActiveX Technologies, designed to enable the most exciting and interactive content ever seen on the Internet. ActiveX Technologies, also announced today, embrace all popular Internet standards and give users and developers a rich platform for innovative Web pages while taking full advantage of developers’ expertise and current investments in applications, tools and source code. More information on the ActiveX Technologies announcement can be found on the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com./internet/pdcnews.htm/.

Founded in 1969, CompuServe Inc. provides the world’s most comprehensive online services, business network and Internet access. Through CompuServe, more than 4.5 million home and business users in 147 countries access the Internet and 3,000-plus online information, education and entertainment services and products. In addition, more than 950 corporate customers use CompuServe’s value-added network solutions. Among its many uses, the CompuServe-owned network serves as the world’s mailbox and check-out lane, hosting 40 million e-mail messages per month and more than 1 billion point-of-sale transactions per year. With world headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, CompuServe’s 60 offices include European centers in Munich, London and Paris.

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, Windows, Windows NT, ActiveX and Win32 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Novell and NetWare are registered trademarks of Novell Inc.

CompuServe is a registered trademark of CompuServe Inc.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft home page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/. To receive Microsoft press releases by fax, please call (800) 859-5915 in the United States or (201) 333-0314 internationally.

Related Posts