Microsoft PressPass – Microsoft Makes Web Publishing Easier for Millions of Office Users
REDMOND, Wash., April 8, 1996 —
— Microsoft Corp. today released three no-charge add-ons to Microsoft® Office that make it even easier for millions of Office users to create and publish information to the Internet or an intranet. New tools for Microsoft Access, Schedule+ and the PowerPoint®
presentation graphics program complete the Microsoft Office family of Internet Assistants and Viewers that enable users to publish a wide variety of information on the World Wide Web using all of their familiar Office applications. The new Internet Assistants for Microsoft Access and Schedule+ let users of those applications publish their information in hypertext markup language (HTML) format, allowing Web browsers to view the information across an intranet or via the Internet.
In addition, Microsoft released Microsoft ActiveX
™Animation Player for PowerPoint for the Windows®
95 operating system, a no-charge browser extension for publishing and viewing live PowerPoint for Windows 95 presentations on the World Wide Web. These add-ons are available today to download at no charge from the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/office/ under Internet Tools.
“When it comes to creating documents for an intranet or the Internet, users want to make full use of their knowledge and investment in the tools they understand and use every day,”
said Robbie Bach, director of marketing for desktop applications at Microsoft.
Bringing the Power of a Desktop Database to the Web
With more than 10 million users, Microsoft Access for Windows 95 is the leading desktop database for managing and reporting on structured data from a wide variety of sources. With the release of Internet Assistant for Microsoft Access, users can easily publish information stored in corporate databases, making data such as product catalogs, price lists and customer information readily accessible to Web browsers. Now, with a simple wizard, users can automatically publish a rich array of Microsoft Access reports, form datasheets, queries and tables in HTML and share them on the Web, thus eliminating the time-consuming and complex task of manually rekeying information and coding complex HTML reports. Microsoft Access Internet Assistant also uses templates created in Microsoft Word Internet Assistant to provide rich formatting that is easy to customize.
Internet Assistant for Schedule+ for Windows 95 allows a user to publish calendar information to a Web site of choice. Anyone with a Web browser is then able to view the posted schedule, with no special viewer required. With Internet Assistant for Schedule+, it is easy to post professional-looking personal calendars, team calendars and event schedules to the Internet and corporate intranets.
“Microsoft Internet Assistants have allowed us to have an immediate Internet presence without the cost and hassles of relying on outside consultants,”
said Lee Solt, director of technology for Veronis, Suhler and Associates (http://www.vsacomm.com/). “The combination of low operating costs, a high-quality Internet presence and new business leads has allowed our site to pay for itself many times over.”
Dynamic, Animated Web Pages Without Programming
ActiveX Animation Player for PowerPoint for Windows 95 is a no-charge Internet browser extension that enables Office users to publish and view live PowerPoint presentations in their Web pages. Users can now take advantage of the enhanced animation, hyperlinks, special effects and built-in sound functionality in PowerPoint for Windows 95 to build dynamic, animated Web pages without having to learn and use a complex programming tool. In addition, ActiveX Animation Player makes downloading and viewing PowerPoint effects and presentations over the Internet faster than ever by compressing files before Web-site posting.
Internet Assistants for Microsoft Office 95 applications (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, PowerPoint and Schedule+) make intranets and the Internet an integral, natural part of each user’s computer 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, PowerPoint, ActiveX and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
