REDMOND, Wash., and SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. - Nov. 10, 1998 - Microsoft Corp. today announced that beta 2 of Microsoft^® Office 2000 will be available through the largest-ever early evaluation for Office. With an expected 700,000 customers participating, the Office 2000 beta program will be 10 times larger than all previous Office evaluation programs put together. Customers can choose between two programs: the Corporate Preview Program, which will provide IT professionals with tools and information they need to prepare for the deployment of Office 2000 in their organizations, and the Consumer Preview Program, which will provide end users with a full copy of beta 2 for their evaluation of Office 2000. Customers can also experience Office 2000 at the single largest Office end-user event ever held, at the one-day, multilocation eXtreme preview event, which is part of the Office 2000 Roadshow.

The Office 2000 preview programs expand customer review and evaluation of Office 2000 to customers in 43 countries around the world. Participants will receive beta 2 of Office 2000 Premium and be among the first to experience this total solution for creating and managing webs for their workgroup or for their own individual use.

"Customers have told us that they want Web functionality right inside Office," said Steven Sinofsky, general manager of Microsoft Office. "Office 2000 lets customers use the Web as part of their everyday work by saving files in HTML, posting them to Web sites, and commenting on documents from co-workers. The broad availability of beta 2 will allow users all over the world to get an early start in building workgroup webs."

Corporate and Consumer Preview Programs Available

The Corporate Preview Program and the Consumer Preview Program both allow customers to use and evaluate the beta 2 version of Office 2000 Premium. Each program is designed to meet the specific needs of each group of customers through separate sets of evaluation materials and online support.

Interested parties can sign up for either program starting Nov. 16 on Microsoft's Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/office/2000/office/CPP/default.htm. The cost of the program is $19.95 to cover the costs of the materials, shipping, and support.

National Roadshow and eXtreme Event Demonstrate Office 2000

Customers can also preview the prerelease version of Office 2000 through the Office 2000 Roadshow, which has been touring the United States over the last two months. The most significant stop on this tour is the Microsoft eXtreme event, a free live broadcast on Saturday, Nov. 14, from COMDEX/Fall '98 in Las Vegas to 29 movie theatres across the United States. These events will provide detailed looks at Office 2000 Premium and demonstrate how it can be used to build workgroup webs and how this new method of collaboration will make individuals and teams more productive.

For the roadshow schedule, please visit http://events.microsoft.com/isapi/events/event.asp?s=49014. For eXtreme locations, please visit. http://events.microsoft.com/isapi/events/event.asp?s=49733.

About Office 2000

Office 2000 is being designed to help customers get better results by turning their information into more of an asset. Office 2000 is the desktop suite that will make the Web work for its users, streamlining the process of working with people and information to provide better results.

Office 2000 Premium 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 and graphics program, Microsoft Access 2000, Publisher 2000 and Microsoft Office Small Business Tools. Office 2000 is expected to be released to manufacturing in the first quarter of 1999 and have broad availability in the second quarter of 1999.