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'Simple' service from Microsoft

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MICROSOFT chairman Bill Gates used the Comdex platform to announce full details of its much-anticipated interactive on-line service, The Microsoft Network, to be launched next year in conjunction with Windows 95 operating system.

In Hong Kong, Microsoft said it would make The Microsoft Network available at the same time as the United States launch, with local dial-up numbers that will allow the territory's users to avoid expensive international telecommunications charges.

Microsoft Hong Kong managing director Laurie Kan said the firm was already investigating local content providers to put Hong Kong-specific information services on The Microsoft Network.

Mr Gates said the new service would be price-competitive with anything already on the market, but claimed The Microsoft Network would be easier to use than existing large commercial services such as CompuServe, America Online, or Prodigy, and promises more creative and 'compelling' information services from third-party content providers.

The service was expected to go into beta-testing late this month. It is also expected to ship a special set of developers tools so that content providers can design their services in the near future.

Microsoft said it planned to be more flexible than competitors in allowing third-party information providers, who will maintain control over the way their service looks on The Microsoft Network, and in the way that they charge for their services.

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