Microsoft will extend its Passport authentication service to the broader corporate market, a major element in a wider effort to build acceptance for its software-through-subscription strategy. In addition, Microsoft is renaming its HailStorm Web services initiative as .Net My Services. HailStorm is central to Microsoft's overarching .Net software strategy to move computing to the Web. The company next year plans to offer content, shopping, banking, entertainment and other services through a variety of devices--including cell phones, PCs and handhelds--linked to HailStorm, which relies on Microsoft's Passport to authenticate users. The Redmond, Wash.-based company on Thursday will announce a plan to promote Passport--which is currently used by consumers to log in to secure Web sites--as a universal log-in mechanism to conduct business e-commerce transactions between Web sites.
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