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Microsoft® Office® XP delivers the smarter work experience Canadian office workers are seeking
Newest version of Microsoft® Office® software suite launches today

MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO---MAY 31, 2001

Today, Microsoft Corporation and Microsoft Canada Co. (“Microsoft”) launched Microsoft Office XP, the latest version of their Office productivity suite, and the first Office suite to begin delivering on the .NET vision. Microsoft Office XP leverages more than two years of market research and customer feedback to deliver a smarter work experience. As part of this eXPerience, Microsoft Office XP will help users work more productively, communicate and collaborate more effectively and access information immediately. In addition to the Microsoft Office XP Standard version desktop applications including Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint® 2002 presentation graphics program, and Microsoft Outlook® 2002 messaging and collaboration client, Microsoft Office XP Professional Special Edition will introduce teams to Microsoft SharePoint™ Team Services facilitating group collaboration via the Web.

For more information about hosting your Microsoft FrontPage 2002 or SharePoint Team Services websites visit http://myhosting.com/ApplicationHosting/FrontPage.asp and http://myhosting.com/ApplicationHosting/.

In an Ipsos-Reid study released today,* 75 per cent of PC users in Canada indicated a need for productivity tools to help them communicate and share information more easily with their colleagues. Among those surveyed, there was a nearly unanimous (97 per cent) agreement that there was need for tools that would give PC users easier and more immediate access to the information they need. Microsoft Office XP meets the needs of Canadian PC users because it is designed around three core principles: helping make end-user business productivity more efficient, helping make team collaboration and communication easier, and expanding solution opportunities for organizations.

“With Microsoft Office XP we are providing Canadians with a product that will help them stay ahead of their deadline-filled, fast-paced work environments,” said Elliot Katz, Office product manager, Microsoft Canada. “Based on extensive customer feedback and market research, Microsoft Office XP is loaded with new features designed to improve business productivity by making the desktop experience more helpful, Web-enabled and faster.”

Microsoft Office XP represents a culmination of input from worldwide advisory councils, newsgroups, usability studies, on-site customer visits, executive level feedback from corporate partners, input from product support, and extensive customer research to ensure customer feedback was incorporated in each stage of the development. It is also the first Office suite to begin delivering on the Microsoft.NET strategy by integrating Internet-based services such as SharePoint Team Services, enabling users to work more closely with the Web.

Meeting Canadian demand
Microsoft has shared tens of thousands of evaluation copies of Microsoft Office XP with Canadian knowledge workers and their feedback has been outstanding. “I finally feel as though my software actually works with me. The tools I need are provided exactly when I need them,” said Brenda McDonald, president of London, Ontario based Coyle and Greer Awards Canada. “I never have to look for the right tools to complete my tasks anymore and I can’t wait to get my employees on Microsoft Office XP so we can take advantage of the document collaboration tools too.”

Making software easy to use
Microsoft Office XP enhances the PC user work experience through performance enhancing features such as Smart Tags and Task Panes. These features offer one-click access to the information required for task completion.

• Task Panes provide easy access to important tasks in a single integrated view. From the Task Pane, which appears on the right side of the screen, users can perform searches, open or start a new document, view the contents of the clipboard, format their documents and presentations, or even access translation and template services via the Web. For example, if the user needs to reformat a recently inserted block of text in Word 2002 for consistent style, Task Panes facilitate this with a single click of the mouse.
• Smart Tags are a set of context sensitive icons that are shared across Office applications. These icons appear when the user needs them (such as when an error is made in a Microsoft Excel formula, when Word automatically corrects formatting action, or when pasting information from one application into another) and introduces options to change the given action or error. With Smart Tags the user can automatically insert a person’s address into a letter simply by typing that person’s name in the Word document. The Smart Tag automatically accesses this information from the user’s Outlook contacts.

On May 14, 2001, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) completed a comparative evaluation aimed at identifying which of two applications, Microsoft Office XP and Microsoft Office 2000, offered the greatest productivity advantages when used to complete 11 common word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and email tasks.** The study revealed that Microsoft Office XP provides the greatest productivity advantages when used to complete these everyday tasks. Specifically, when using Microsoft Office XP, PC users completed these 11 tasks in an average total time of 20 minutes and 6 seconds, which is less than half the amount of time taken to complete the same tasks with Microsoft Office 2000.

Facilitating easier collaboration
The enhanced work experience also extends to team collaboration and communication. Microsoft Office XP helps teams collaborate and communicate through groundbreaking SharePoint Team Services and new document review features.

In the fast-paced, teamwork environment of Canadian business, collaborative document creation has increasingly become the norm. According to the Ipsos Reid survey, 75 per cent of Canadian office workers reported a need to share information with others in their organization. Working with the Send for Review and Compare and Merge options in Microsoft Office XP, users will be able to work from one master document, incorporating all the revisions and edits from their colleagues with one click.

• Send for Review: When a document is sent for review, the appropriate reviewing tools are automatically turned on for use. When the document is sent back, the recipient can simply merge the changes back into the original document.
• Compare and Merge: Provides the tools to merge comments and revisions from multiple reviewers together. One or all of the suggested revisions can then be accepted or rejected. Working with Send for Review and Compare and Merge, the user can work from one master document, easily incorporating all the revisions and edits from you colleagues to your master document with one click.

• Microsoft SharePoint Team Services: This easy-to-create Web site will improve the way teams manage information and activities making it an exclusive one-stop-shop Web site for all pertinent group information. Using only a Web browser, team members can create contact and task lists, event calendars, and libraries for storing documents, and surveys. They can also have newsgroup discussions and be notified when specific content on the site changes.
• Group Schedules: Team members can save multiple group calendars within Outlook for quick and easy access to team or conference room schedules. Team members can use Outlook 2002 to arrange a meeting that fits with everyone’s schedule and now colleagues can recommend alternative times for any meeting in one simple step.

Already, Canadian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have rallied around Microsoft Office XP to host SharePoint Team Services. “SharePoint is a quick, easy information management solution for any organization, and we’re thrilled to be one of the first ISPs in Canada to host this Microsoft Office XP service at myhosting.com® and mail2web.com,” said Tony Yustein, CEO & president of SoftCom Technology Consulting Inc.

Widespread Canadian Industry Support
Microsoft Office has always been a great platform on which to build business solutions and with its recent enhancements supporting industry standards such as XML, Microsoft Office XP takes it a step further. Microsoft Office XP is enjoying widespread industry support across Canada, including accolades from independent software vendors such as Nereosoft, ACCPAC International, and Keylogics. These Canadian software vendors are already reporting successes in tailoring Microsoft Office XP solutions.

“Nereosoft has been developing software that integrates with Microsoft Office since 1995 and Smart Tags open up a wonderful new way to integrate our software into Microsoft Office XP," said Soeren Soth, president, Nereosoft Inc. "Nereosoft has designed three types of Smart Tags that allow users in the Real Estate and Law professions to greatly reduce the number of clicks needed to perform actions, providing functionality on demand. Add to this the integration of information on the Internet through XML and Web services and you have the ability to completely alter the user's desktop experience."

"The implementation of Microsoft Smart Tags into our Simply Accounting software provides real day-to-day value for our customers by creating business functionality that crosses product boundaries -- enabling users to effortlessly move information between our accounting package and Microsoft Office XP applications," said Craig Downing, vice president, product management, ACCPAC International. "As an early adopter of Smart Tag technology, we are providing our customers with a better solution, while reinforcing our leadership position in Microsoft Office integration."

“Keylogix recently introduced ActiveDocs for Microsoft Office XP, enabling end-users to access corporate information systems from directly within Microsoft Word, and create Smart Tags without any programming,” said Dot Johnstone, director of product planning at Keylogix. “Keylogix has worked with Smart Tags to extend these tools, making it easy for end-users to work more productively by creating their own Smart Tags in Word 2002.”

Launch day activities
As part of the Microsoft Office XP launch-day activities across Canada today, Xs and Ps greeted Torontonians on their way to work, introducing them to the newest version of Microsoft Office. Microsoft Canada is celebrating in nine other cities across Canada, hosting consumer events in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax.

In addition to today’s launch festivities, Microsoft will offer one lucky Canadian couple the chance to balance out their busy work schedules with a getaway eXPerience to Italy. The grand prize winners will win a trip for two, courtesy of Alitalia, to eXPerience 10 days of rest and relaxation in Italy. Canadians can enter the Explore Italy Contest by visiting: www.microsoft.ca/experienceit.***

Product Lineup and Pricing
The Microsoft Office XP suite delivers more value than ever before, at a great upgrade price. For example, Microsoft Office XP Standard delivers productivity enhancements to the most popular Office applications, including Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint, for an estimated retail price of CDN $379 for any Microsoft Office 2000 or Microsoft Office 97 customer.

“Customers come to Future Shop looking for great technology solutions and we expect that Microsoft Office XP will be in hot demand as it represents a giant leap forward for office productivity software,” said Behzad Khosrowshahi, executive vice president of merchandising, Future Shop. “We’re looking forward to bringing this new software to market through both our national chain of consumer electronic stores and our Web site at futureshop.ca.”

The Microsoft Office XP retail and channel partner suite line-up includes the following:

• Microsoft Office XP Standard
  Microsoft Office XP Standard is designed for users requiring a core set of desktop productivity tools and includes Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, Outlook 2002, and PowerPoint 2002. Estimated retail price (ERP) for version upgrades is CDN $379. ERP for new users is CDN $749.****
  
  
• Microsoft Office XP Professional
  Microsoft Office XP Professional provides a complete solution for customers, offering exciting new features in Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, PowerPoint 2002, Outlook 2002 and Microsoft Access 2002. ERP for version upgrades is CDN $529. ERP for new users is CDN $899.****
  
  
• Microsoft Office XP Professional Special Edition
  Microsoft Office XP Professional Special Edition is an introductory offer available for a limited time to existing Office customers in select worldwide geographies. This edition delivers exceptional value and a wide range of functionality, including Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, Outlook 2002, PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft Access 2002, the FrontPage 2002 Web site creation and management tool, SharePoint Team Services, Publisher 2002, and Microsoft IntelliMouse® Explorer. The ERP is CDN $709.****
  
  
• Microsoft Office XP Developer
  Microsoft Office XP Developer includes everything professional software developers need to quickly build and deploy powerful, integrated Microsoft Office XP-based business solutions. In addition to the entire Office XP Professional suite, it contains FrontPage 2002, SharePoint Team Services, and other professional tools and resources. ERP for version upgrades is CDN $809. ERP for new users is CDN $1,169.****
  
  

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device.