Microsoft Corp plans to include a program in its Windows computer operating system makeover to provide instant messaging, video conferencing, voice chat and file and program sharing.
The top software maker announced the new feature while awaiting a decision in its appeal of a ruling that ordered it broken in two for antitrust violations such as illegally integrating Internet programs into the Windows operating system, which runs most of the world's computers.
Before the announcement of this feature, the new Windows XP had antagonized an industry group funded by Microsoft rivals for adding more programs than prior Windows versions. Separately, antitrust officials expressed concern about a related initiative to provide Internet services through instant-messaging technology.
"How we look at what we put in an operating system is dictated by what our customers and our partners want to be able to do with the personal computer," said Shawn Sanford, group product manager for Microsoft's consumer Windows division. Customers told the company that they want such features, he said.
Still, Sanford's Windows group talks with Microsoft's legal department about the product because "we need to operate by the rules," he said.
The new program, Windows Messenger, looks like a standard program for sending instant messages, or short e-mails that can be exchanged rapidly in almost conversation-like fashion. Microsoft offers such a program through its MSN Internet business. It competes with AOL Time Warner Inc's AOL Instant Messenger and the company's ICQ service.
Shares of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft rose US$1.16 to US$70.34 Friday. They've risen 62 percent this year and are the best performer in the 30-member Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Windows Messenger also will let PC users share programs, send files and talk using both audio and video. For example, two people can work simultaneously on a file or spreadsheet stored on one user's computer.
Third parties will be able to write services to work with Messenger, Sanford said. Microsoft plans to work with telephone companies to offer PC-to-phone calls in a later version, he said.
In March, Microsoft displayed a group of programming technologies called HailStorm that could be used to write Web services. The company showed how an instant-messaging program could deliver such services. The Windows Messenger program could be a good way to offer services that other companies and Microsoft build with the HailStorm tools, Sanford said.
State antitrust enforcers expressed concern in March about HailStorm and the bundling of instant messaging services into Microsoft's .Net Internet strategy. The states said they planned to consult with the US Justice Department, with whom they joined in 1998 to bring the landmark antitrust case against the company.
Officials at the Project to Promote Competition and Innovation in the Digital Age, a group funded by Microsoft competitors such as Oracle Corp, have expressed concern about the company's bundling of programs, including software to play audio and video files, into Windows XP. The group has also expressed concern about the .Net strategy.
The appellate ruling is likely to overturn the breakup order and send the case back to a lower court legal experts say.
Microsoft expects to show a design preview of the program to other software makers at the end of June. Consumers can sign up to receive a preview of Windows XP with the Messenger software before the final product is released Oct. 25.
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