New Global Technologies in Microsoft Office 2000 Drive Deployment In Leading Multinational Companies

Ford Motor Co., Shell Services International to Roll Out Office 2000 In Over 30 Countries Around the World

REDMOND, Wash. - Feb. 24, 1999 - Microsoft Corp. today announced that two multinational corporations, Ford Motor Co. and Shell Services International, will deploy the global features in Microsoft^® Office 2000 to standardize desktops around the world and to more easily share information across different languages. The company also announced that an extended set of global features will be available to customers through Office 2000 Proofing Tools and Office 2000 with MultiLanguage Pack.

"To deploy a successfully integrated global solution, it is vital to address the language and cultural needs in diverse countries," said Cindy Miller, vice president of infrastructure technology services for Shell Services International. "The global features in Office 2000 can help reduce the complexity and cost of deployment, and its single worldwide executable can make the whole process easier for us and our customers."

The global features in Office 2000 include a single worldwide executable architecture for simplified deployment across multiple languages, language auto-detection capabilities in Word 2000 that allow easier editing and proofing of multilingual documents, and support for the euro currency symbol.

Office 2000 Proofing Tools is designed for end users and extends Office 2000's global functionality by providing additional proofing tools in over 30 languages. Office 2000 with MultiLanguage Pack is designed for multinational companies and further extends global functionality by allowing them to easily switch the user interface and Help to over 25 languages. Mobile users and others in these multinational companies can thus share workstations regardless of their language, and centralized global help desks can switch language interfaces on their computer screens to match those of their users. Office 2000 with MultiLanguage Pack also includes the features available in Office 2000 Proofing Tools.

Office 2000 Global Features Address Key Business Trend

The global features in Office 2000 have been shaped by the Office Advisory Council, a group of Office customers that have been directly involved from start to finish in the process of designing Office 2000. The council, which includes IT professionals from Ford and other multinational companies, has provided valuable customer input from the earliest stages of the design process.

"The Office Advisory Council helped us see how valuable a consistent, multilingual desktop platform is to multinational companies," said Jon DeVaan, vice president for Microsoft's desktop applications division. "We designed Office 2000 to be easy for global IT administrators to deploy and manage and to make individuals more productive in multilingual environments."

Distribution of Office 2000 With MultiLanguage Pack and Office 2000 Proofing Tools

There will be three versions of the Office 2000 with MultiLanguage Pack suite: Microsoft Office 2000 Standard with MultiLanguage Pack, Microsoft Office 2000 Professional with MultiLanguage Pack and Microsoft Office 2000 Premium with MultiLanguage Pack. Office 2000 with MultiLanguage Pack will be available exclusively through Microsoft volume-license programs. Microsoft Office 2000 Proofing Tools will be available through the retail channel as well as Microsoft's volume-license programs, and will be priced in the U.S. retail channel at approximately $79.95. Offers and prices are valid in the United States and may not be available in other countries.

About Office 2000

The Microsoft Office 2000 line includes five different suite options, offering a set of tools tailored for each type of Office customer. Office 2000 Premium is the most comprehensive of the suites and includes the FrontPage^® 2000 Web site creation and management tool, PhotoDraw™ 2000 business graphics software, Word 2000, Microsoft Excel 2000, the Outlook^® 2000 messaging and collaboration client, the PowerPoint^® 2000 presentation graphics program, Microsoft Access 2000, Publisher 2000, Microsoft Small Business Tools and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 browser software.

About Shell Services International

Shell Services International Group of Companies (SSI) is an independent business solutions provider serving members of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group and other global companies. SSI supports more than 40,000 customer desktops in over 400 locations around the world.

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is the second largest manufacturer of vehicles in the world. The Ford family of brands includes Lincoln, Mercury, Ford, Mazda, Jaguar and Aston Martin.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Microsoft, FrontPage, PhotoDraw, Outlook and PowerPoint are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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