Microsoft unveils new Internet initiative

The .Net (DOT-net) strategy ties together Microsoft’s recent work in areas such as hand-held devices, wireless computing, Internet television and digital music and books. The technology would enable users to swap information between such devices.

Gates said the first version of the DOT-net technology would be rolled out next year with a more robust version following in 2002. He said current Microsoft products such as the Windows operating system and Office business software would be retooled with DOT-net functions.

"Next year you will see many of the services emerge, but it will be more than two years out before all the services will be out there," Gates said.

Gates likened the initiative to the effort put behind the Windows operating system that has been a cornerstone of the company’s sprawling software empire.

"There is a very strong analogy here between what we are doing now and what we did with Windows," he said at a press briefing at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond.

He said the "dotnet" strategy was much more important than its 1995 Internet strategy announcement that led to the development of its Web browser.

"What we are talking about today is far more ambitious. It is a new platform. It will affect every piece of code that gets written. There is not a Microsoft product that isn’t touched," Gates said. "Our entire strategy is defined around this platform."

The strategy is based around the so-called XML (extensible markup language) technology that is rapidly becoming a standard for exchanging data between different computers and networks.

"The impact of the Internet has been spectacular to date, but the pace of innovation will accelerate over the next five years," Gates said in a statement. "Our goal is to move beyond today’s world of stand-alone Web sites to an Internet of interchangeable components where devices and services can be assembled into cohesive, user-driven experiences."

The sweeping plan aims to fuse Microsoft’s software with the Internet, even as it battles the US Government’s antitrust suit stemming from its earlier attempt to do just that.

The new strategy is bound to come under scrutiny from analysts, lawyers and judges seeking evidence that Microsoft is still behaving in ways that landed it in legal trouble.

A federal judge has ordered Microsoft split in two to ensure it doesn’t further violate antitrust law. The judge found Microsoft used its monopoly in the Windows operating system to harm rivals by bundling the browser into Windows. But he has stayed the breakup and separate restrictions on its business until the end of the appeals process.