Microsoft aims at Internet services

Associated Press

SEATTLE — In its push to become more of a consumer products company, Microsoft Corp. is pinning its hopes on a fledgling product line called .NET.

Unlike most consumer products, this isn’t something you can touch, buy outright or even explain very easily.

Pronounced "dot-net," .NET provides services over the Internet. Early versions can remember a customer’s credit card number for Internet purchases or alert a user to bids on online auctions.

Eventually, the system could handle such things as arranging appointments and sending that information to hand-held or personal computers.

Say you are planning a trip to Africa. The system could buy your tickets through a travel agent, then access your doctor’s records and tell you what immunizations you need. It could even arrange a time for the shots.

On the day of your trip, it could alert you by cell phone if your flight is late or if traffic to the airport is backed up.

Such services could be accessed from any computing device.

No longer would you need to juggle phones, Web browsers and e-mail at home or in the office. All your information would be available to you wherever you were.

The .NET platform is key to changing the image of Microsoft, long thought of as a maker of business tools and operating systems.

"I don’t think consumers identify Microsoft broadly as a consumer company," said Steve Guggenheimer, Microsoft’s senior director of business management. "We need to start to build an identity with … how Microsoft helps make their daily lives better."

But even Microsoft admits that will take time.

It will be at least two years before .NET consumer services become widespread, Guggenheimer said, and perhaps 10 years before the ultimate vision is fulfilled.

Charles Fitzgerald, Microsoft’s general manager of platform strategy, describes Windows XP, the latest operating system, as "one of the first sockets" of the .NET plan.

Eventually, he said, .NET will serve as a basis for connecting all sorts of Microsoft products, from its e-mail service to its PocketPCs.

"We used to build applications that basically were stand-alone islands," Fitzgerald said. "Now we build sockets that are designed to be sockets to a number of different services."

On top of hearing music on Windows Media Player, a person could also buy music, be alerted if a particular band were coming to town, and get the chance to buy concert tickets — all using Microsoft services.

Other Microsoft products also will provide the tools for .NET. These include its MSN e-mail service and Internet portal, its MSN Messenger and even its Xbox game console and Office software.

Microsoft is also fast building a customer base for Passport, a free system that can store online passwords and credit card numbers. In later incarnations, Passport will be used to store other personal information for .NET services, such as a calendar, medical records, bills or airplane reservations.

To be successful, Microsoft will have to make people think of .NET as a basis for everything they do with computers, said David Smith, vice president of Internet strategy for Gartner Inc., a research firm.

Smith believes Microsoft can succeed, given the weight it can put behind the effort through its already dominant products, including the Windows operating system.

Others aren’t sure.

"It’s a very complex, very corporate … kind of concept they’re trying to deliver to a market of folks that is used to thinking about things in terms of just going to the store and buying," said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group. "It’s a market that’s hard to convince and easily scared."