eBay Inc. and Microsoft Corp. today announced a strategic alliance to jointly expand their global online presence and improve the e-commerce experience for consumers. The two firms will work together to enable buyers and sellers on the Internet to seamlessly interact across multiple Web sites and other applications anywhere in the world. The alliance calls for broad cooperation initially focusing on three key initiatives expected to roll out this year. First, eBay will support Microsoft® .NET technologies, and will be one of the first Web sites worldwide to offer its community-based commerce engine to Web developers as an XML-based Web service. Second, Microsoft will integrate eBay's marketplace into a number of its Web properties, including select MSN® Internet service sites worldwide, Carpoint™, bCentral™ and WebTV®. Finally, eBay will deploy Microsoft technology including Windows® 2000 Server and Microsoft Passport.
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