Microsoft Unveils HailStorm Internet Services - Brief Article - Product Announcement

Information Superhighways Newsletter, May, 2001

Microsoft Corp. unveiled a project that aims to tie tasks like instant messaging, on-line shopping, and appointments into subscription services available through a PC, cell phone, or handheld device.

Dubbed HailStorm, it is the clearest vision yet of the .NET strategy Microsoft announced last year to build the Internet into all its products and start selling software as a service delivered on-line rather than in shrink-wrapped boxes.

"We think of HailStorm as a new platform that connects services and applications for the end-user," Microsoft co-founder and chairman, Bill Gates, said in a presentation.

HailStorm is not a single piece of software like Microsoft's Windows operating system. It includes existing services run by Microsoft like its MSN Instant Messenger and its Passport identification service that stores personal data like credit card information in a virtual wallet. It will also include things like a personal calendar, contact book, and inbox.

An example of HailStorm in use might be a person shopping on a PC who asks an on-line bookstore to send notice when an out-of-stock book arrives. They might get the notice on a cell phone, which they then could use to buy the book. By maintaining appointments and addresses in a central place, users won't have to reenter data for each new device -- the Microsoft-based service would automatically update it.

Microsoft partners recently showed off what future HailStorm-based services might look like. Internet auction house, eBay Inc., showed a template for quickly posting items for sale while software maker, Groove Networks Inc., showed how co-workers could work on a project or document through instant messenger.

Later this year, Microsoft will roll out HailStorm software tools for other companies and developers to build other new services, Gates said. HailStorm services will be launched next year for consumers, who will pay as-yet unspecified subscription fees, said Bob Muglia, Microsoft's group vice president of .NET services.

"It's actually very crucial for the financial model to be based on end-users paying for, the value they receive. It's a reboot of the Internet business model," Muglia said.

Analysts said the HailStorm details helped bring substance to the abstract .NET vision.

"This is just one step closer to reality. Now they've taken it a step further by specifying the services they are going to offer," said Dwight Davis, an analyst with Summit Strategies.

Gates and other executives touted how HailStorm will deliver data to users no matter what kind of device they are using, including Microsoft rivals like Palm Inc.'s popular line of handheld devices.

"HailStorm is not exclusively tied to any particular operating system," Gates said. "We make it particularly easy to get at Hailstorm from Windows, but that can be done with any platform out there."

While some end users may never see the Windows logo, the project won't replace Microsoft's most lucrative franchise. The foundation of HailStorm services rests on Windows 2000, its more powerful operating system that runs high-end server computers that serve up Web sites.