Microsoft Unveils Online Office XP Tools

The deluge of new Web services from Microsoft continues, with the announcement Monday of online tools tailored to the Office XP desktop.

The service, called Tools on the Web, hints of ever-increasing emphasis on the Web as a channel to distribute software and services. The approach is integral to Microsoft's .Net services initiative.

Tools on the Web provides a number of Internet services from within the Office XP program, similar to services already on Microsoft's Web site. For example, if you're working in Office applications and are online, you can access--from within an Office program--services such as electronic postage from Stamps.com. Or, you can directly access Microsoft's online help desk from a drop-down menu in each of the Office programs. Access to the tools site is free, but you must sign up for an account and pay fees for some third-party services.

A scaled-down version of these Web services has been available. The difference with this offering is its site, and that the services are integrated directly into Office XP.

"We're going to see much more of this," says Chris Le Tocq, an analyst for Guernsey Research. "Once [Microsoft] gets people used to the idea that you can--from within your document--connect to external services, then it can begin marketing all types of things."

However, Le Tocq says he thinks use of Microsoft's similar earlier services "has been limited."

Online Tools Not All New

Microsoft's Office 2000 offered early versions of online tools. They let users save document preferences on Microsoft's Web site and retrieve them for use in future documents. Users could also access thousands of images on Microsoft's Design Gallery image bank, choose from a variety of sample documents from Microsoft's Template Gallery, and make use of services from third-party vendors.

Microsoft's Assistance Center help desk has also been available through its Web site, enabling users to get information about the Microsoft software and products, collaborate with others on documents via e-mail, and receive tips for working on Office applications.

The new Tools on the Web adds Internet services from ten third-party vendors aimed mainly at small-business users, bringing Microsoft's total portfolio to 20 online services. One new partner is Office Depot, which offers a direct link to order office supplies and purchase computers and software. Also, Stamps.com will continue to offer its Web-based postage service in the next version of Office. You can click on a Stamps.com menu choice to print postage for envelopes and packages from within the program.

Other new tools include language-translation services for e-mail, Web sites, and other documents from Mendez and WorldLingo. Microsoft is offering online learning services from SmartForce, live help-desk chat from Keen, and electronic storage and document sharing from FileTrust. Insight Express is providing market research services, and Zairmail is offering direct-mail marketing services. Custom Microsoft Outlook e-mail tools are available from Disappearing and a phone and e-mail address database is offered by InfoSpace.

Making Documents Smarter

Microsoft is also refining its Smart Tags, which is a Web service included in Office XP. Smart Tags let you search corporate intranets for Web links and other information based on keywords in a document, and aggregate that information with an Office document.

For instance, documents that include a particular stock ticker symbol can make use of a feature that compiles news and information about that stock symbol and integrates it directly into the Office document. Microsoft will announce more about its Smart Tags when Office XP is released on May 31.

"Microsoft is beginning to offer Office as a platform," Le Tocq says, noting that the company has already started allowing third-party developers to download code in order to build additional programs that run within the Office environment. "What it's doing is making the document smarter."