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Follow UsBy Reed Stevenson
SEATTLE: Microsoft Corporation announced on Tuesday that it is launching a new version of its consumer-friendly MSN Web browser, later this year. For the first time it will also charge users who don't subscribe to its Internet access services.
The beefed-up browser, called MSN 8, is the latest consumer-oriented product to be unveiled by the software giant this week as it prepares to launch a series of new products this year aimed at extending its reach beyond the desk and personal computer.
Microsoft said the new browser would ship with a sleek new design and an array of features that make it easier for users to manage e-mail, protect their PCs from viruses, handle digital photos and browse the Web.
It said it was the most fundamental revamp ever for its MSN set of services, which also includes Internet access and a Web portal.
In a departure from previous practice, Microsoft said it would offer MSN 8 as a separate subscription for users who don't already use MSN Internet access services. The company introduced the MSN browser as an alternative to its dominant Internet Explorer software, which will remain free.
Microsoft declined to say how much the subscription would cost, but charging consumers for a browser would be another step significant break with the Internet's "free" culture.
The new version of MSN comes at a time when most Internet service providers (ISPs) are dealing with a slowdown in their dial-up subscriber bases and are focusing on providing high-speed services, which they hope will generate more revenue.
Market leader America Online, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc. is suffering from a sharp decline in advertising spending, slower-than-expected migration of its members to high-speed services and a brake in subscriber growth.
Array of parental controls
The key MSN features that Microsoft for the family household users, are an extensive set of parental controls capable of blocking e-mail, instant messages, file-sharing and specific Web sites.
Fears of crime borne over the Internet have let many parents in the United States to call for more stringent monitoring of children's activities and access on the Web.
"Now the parent is totally in control of their child's experience on the Web," said MSN Marketing Director Bob Visse.
MSN 8 even has the ability to generate an online activity report and a feature to request parental permission for certain sites.
MSN also has a new feature called a "dashboard" that replaces the bookmark and media file menus that pop up on the left side of Internet Explorer.
Designed to display a variety of information and media, the dashboard can also be moved off the browser and onto the Windows desktop for constant access to communication and media functions.
To deliver on Microsoft's promise of making its products more secure and trustworthy, MSN includes virus protection and a firewall to prevent intrusion from the Internet.
Europe, a different tack
The Redmond, Washington-based software firm indicated that it would continue to operate Internet access services, but in Europe it is adopting a slightly different tactic.
Microsoft is pulling a page from AOL's playbook, introducing a "bring-your-own-access" plan in Europe in an effort to crack into a crowded online access market that is still showing signs of healthy growth.
Microsoft has said it is no longer interested in operating a Web portal and ISP in Europe, as it currently does in the United States.
But it said it would like to tap into the European access market, developing revenue-sharing arrangements by which ISPs could use the popular MSN portal, which claims 35 million European visitors per month, as a start page for their access services.
"There's no deals to announce right now but we see this as a real opportunity," said Benjamin Schmittzehe, business manager for MSN 8 in London.
He said such a plan would be rolled out in the UK later this fall and the rest of Europe in 2003, in line with the introduction of MSN 8 in those markets. (Additional reporting by Reshma Kapadia in New York and Bernhard Warner in London)
(C) Reuters Ltd.