SEATTLE - Dec. 7, 1995 - In a briefing for press and analysts today, Microsoft Corp. Chairman and CEO Bill Gates outlined the company's wide-ranging commitment to supporting and enhancing the Internet by integrating the PC platform with the rapidly emerging public network.
"The Internet revolution creates enormous opportunities," Gates said in prepared remarks. "We see one of our key roles as providing integration and continuity between the PC and the Internet so customers can leverage their existing investments in PCs and take advantage of new investments in the Internet. Users want the rich experience of the PC combined with the connectivity of the Internet.
"We also see some great opportunities for making the Internet better and providing rich new content incorporating multimedia, 3-D and intelligent assistance," Gates continued. "We are investing across the company for the long term - I think most people are going to be surprised at the depth and breadth of our commitment to integrate the Internet into our products."
Gates also noted that businesses will adopt the Internet for internal business use - the "Intranet" - for communication with employees, suppliers and customers, and that Intranet applications will likely emerge faster than those for the general consumer market. "Historically, businesses adopt new technologies first and help develop the infrastructure. This then lays the foundation for the consumer market." Microsoft is making Intranet business solutions a focus of its products and strategies. "Our goal is to make the platform based on the Windows® 95 and Windows NT™ operating systems and the Microsoft® Office platform absolutely the best vehicle for business use of the Internet," he said. "Our products and tools are designed to enable applications that encompass both Windows and the Internet."
As part of the briefing, over 20 products and technologies were demonstrated, ranging from an integrated World Wide Web browser for the Windows 95 operating system and Internet-based business applications to interactive Internet consumer games. Many of the new products and features are expected to be available within the next 90 days; the rest are scheduled to be available within the next twelve months.
"Just as the PC revolution was the result of low-cost, powerful microprocessors," Gates said, "the Internet revolution is the result of cheap, ubiquitous communications. Microsoft's role is to help ensure that the 150 million users of Windows and the 4.5 million developers for Windows have what they need to ride the Internet tidal wave."
For Microsoft, this includes creating best-of-breed, quality implementations of key Internet and Windows-based specifications as well as providing developers with a unified approach to developing applications that span both Windows and the Internet.
The announcements Microsoft made as part of today's workshop included both new software and new strategic relationships with companies. (Editors: All of the following press releases are available from PR Newswire.)
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