SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 10, 1996 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a comprehensive solution for Internet publishing, making the job of authoring, viewing and printing Internet-based information easier for the publishing community. Described in a kick-off keynote speech given at the Seybold Conference, and demonstrated in seminars and on the show floor by Microsoft and industry partners, the solution consists of the following components:
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Microsoft
®
Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s step-ahead Web browser. Microsoft Internet Explorer’s unique cross-platform capabilities to display Web pages rich in formatting and multimedia components take Internet publishing to a new level. -
The Windows NT
®
operating system. The easy-to-use security and Web server capabilities of Windows NT Server, combined with the robustness and strong performance of Windows NT Workstation, make it an ideal client and server platform for Internet publishing. -
Windows
®
operating system-based Internet publishing tools. Publishers can choose from a complete set of graphic design tools and new Internet publishing tools to create compelling Web sites easily.
On the show floor, over half of the 110 companies displaying computer-related products and services are showing Windows-based products. Many are showing products based on the latest addition to the Windows family, the Windows NT operating system version 4.0. The ease of use, security and Web server capabilities of Windows NT Server, coupled with the comprehensive tool support, robustness and strong performance of Windows NT Workstation, make it a popular client/server platform for Internet publishing.
“The Windows platform has attracted spectacular third-party support, in breadth, number and caliber,”
said Brad Chase, vice president in the Internet platform and tools division at Microsoft.
“Microsoft and its partners are offering the publishing world a truly compelling scenario for Internet publishing. The depth and variety of Windows-based development tools, combined with the power of the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, provide a complete publishing solution.”
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 Takes Internet Publishing to New Levels
Announced Aug. 13, Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.0 is already making big waves in the Internet publishing community because of its seamless, elegant ability to handle compelling,
“active”
content such as pages rich in typographic, animation and multimedia effects.
At Seybold, to meet rapidly rising demand from the Internet publishing community, Microsoft will host a full-day seminar detailing how to take advantage of Microsoft Internet Explorer and ActiveX
™
Technologies to optimize Web sites. This seminar will include details on features of Microsoft Internet Explorer of particular interest to the publishing community, such as these:
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Cascading Style Sheets, which bring desktop publishing-like layout and font-handling capabilities to Web pages while reducing the size of Web pages by as much as 90 percent
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OpenType font support, which allows Web publishers to specify and use a wide variety of outline fonts, including the freely downloadable Verdana font family, specifically optimized for Web page display
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Comprehensive multimedia support, which gives publishers the freedom to choose the audio, video or animation format that best suits their needs, while assuring them that all users of the browser will easily be able to view their content
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The Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard Co. Web printing proposal to the World Wide Web Consortium, which solves many of the issues with Internet printing such as formatting, alternate-page-size printing and user-definable print specifications
Many high-profile Web publishers have already optimized their pages for Microsoft Internet Explorer, including the following:
“ActiveX Technologies enhance ESPNET SportsZone to a new level for our premium users,”
said Patrick Naughton, senior vice president and CTO at Starwave Corp.
”
Microsoft Internet Explorer’s high-quality and high-performance publishing platforms provide the technology needed for smooth execution of SportsZone’s complex Java
™Applets.”
Microsoft Internet Explorer’s Popularity Reaches Critical Mass With End Users
End users and industry analysts are enthusiastic about Microsoft Internet Explorer, pointing to the product’s ease of use, customizability and communications features, and applauding it as the best tool for browsing Internet publications:
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Use of Microsoft Internet Explorer is rising rapidly. Web sites such as Interse, a Web analysis software firm ( ), have recently measured Microsoft Internet Explorer’s installed base at 29 percent.
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Millions of users have downloaded Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 since its initial availability on Aug. 13.
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Reviews of Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 in the Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and CNET have unanimously named Microsoft Internet Explorer the most advanced and easiest to use Web browser.
Windows: The Platform for Internet Publishing
Graphic designers and Internet publishers at Seybold are seeing a solid suite of software tools that take advantage of the high-performance, attractively priced Windows NT Workstation platform. All the leading graphic design tools as well as a fleet of innovative new Web page publishing tools are now available in 32-bit Windows-based versions. Among the many Windows-based products being demonstrated at Seybold are drawing products such as Macromedia Freehand and CorelDraw; imaging products such as Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Xres and Metatools Powergoo; and 3-D products such as 3DEye, Trispectives and Macromedia Extreme 3-D. Several companies have strengthened the more-established Windows-based tool suites with updates, including Adobe with Photoshop version 4.0 and Equilibrium with Debabelizer for Windows.
“Whether designing for print or for the Web, Adobe Photoshop users will realize substantial performance gains by running with multiple processors under the Windows NT platform,”
said Bryan Lamkin, director of graphics products at Adobe Systems.
New to Seybold this year is a red-hot contingent of companies making Windows-based Internet publishing tools. Up from virtually zero a year ago, the number of companies displaying Windows-based Internet publishing tools reached nearly 20 this year, including such popular tools as the Microsoft FrontPage
™
Web authoring and management tool, Softquad HotMetal, Macromedia Backstage and InContext Spider.
About Microsoft
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 NT, Windows, ActiveX, and FrontPage are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc.
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.
