Microsoft Makes the Web Work for Customers With a New Office 2000 Product Lineup

NEW YORK, Oct. 7, 1998 — Microsoft Corp. today unveiled its Office 2000 line of products, designed to make the Web work for customers. The new Microsoft® Office 2000 line now includes five different suite options, offering a set of tools tailored for each type of Office customer. The product is designed to simplify a customer’s purchase decision by providing a superset of offerings so that they can choose higher-end versions without giving up any products that are available in other versions.

Microsoft also announced Office 2000 Premium, a new high-end suite that includes FrontPage® 2000, the upcoming version of the world’s best-selling Web site creation and management tool, and PhotoDraw
™
2000, Microsoft’s new business graphics software. This new suite is designed for organizations as well as software enthusiasts who demand the most comprehensive set of Web-enabled desktop productivity software.

“We designed the Office 2000 product line in response to the current demands and future expectations of our customers and their increasingly Web-focused work environment,”
said Jon DeVaan, vice president of Microsoft’s desktop application division.
“The Office 2000 product line offers our customers a simple way to choose a suite that is optimal for their individual needs.”

“We see our intranet as an ever-increasing part of our business structure,”
said Andrew B. Drooker, director of technology and infrastructure for Turner Broadcasting Sales Inc.
“The Web capabilities in Office 2000 Premium will allow our employees to make the most of and get the most from our organization’s information.”

Microsoft will be offering the following five suite options when Office 2000 ships next year:

  • Microsoft Office 2000 Premium. Office 2000 Premium provides organizations as well as software enthusiasts with an unparalled combination of tools that offers the ability to implement Web-enabled information sharing, collaborate on documents using an intranet, and create and manage Web sites with high-quality graphics. Office 2000 Premium features Word 2000, Microsoft Excel 2000, the Outlook
    ™2000 messaging and collaboration client, the PowerPoint 2000 presentation graphics program, Microsoft Access 2000, Publisher 2000, Microsoft Office Small Business Tools, FrontPage 2000 and PhotoDraw 2000. PhotoDraw 2000 combines powerful photo editing and drawing in a single, easy-to-use program to help business users quickly create professional-looking graphics to enhance their printed documents, presentations and Web pages.

  • Microsoft Office 2000 Professional. Building on its success as the most popular edition of Office, Office Professional has been strengthened with the addition of Publisher 2000, the leading business desktop publishing program, and the Microsoft Office Small Business Tools. Office Professional will continue to provide organizations, software enthusiasts and small businesses with a definitive collection of tools that enable them to publish and share documents on the Web and be more productive in their work. Office 2000 Professional features Word 2000, Excel 2000, Outlook 2000, PowerPoint 2000, Access 2000, Publisher 2000 and Microsoft Office Small Business Tools.

  • Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business. Created specifically to meet the needs of small business, Office 2000 Small Business delivers the essential tools needed to manage and run operations most effectively. Office 2000 Small Business features Word 2000, Excel 2000, Outlook 2000, Publisher 2000 and Microsoft Office Small Business Tools.

  • Microsoft Office 2000 Standard. Designed for organizations with basic computing needs, Office 2000 Standard provides customers with a core set of leading Office applications and software. Microsoft Office 2000 Standard includes Word 2000, Excel 2000, Outlook 2000 and PowerPoint 2000.

  • Microsoft Office 2000 Developer. Microsoft Office 2000 Developer is designed for developers building solutions that customize, automate and integrate Microsoft

Office. Office 2000 Developer includes Office 2000 Premium as well as tools and documentation for building, managing and deploying solutions with Microsoft Office.

Pricing and Availability

Microsoft Office 2000 is expected to ship in the first quarter of 1999. Pricing for Office 2000 has not yet been finalized, but customers can expect pricing to be comparable with pricing for Office 97.

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, PhotoDraw, Outlook and PowerPoint 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.

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